Nigerian airport botch-up costs SA cargo carrier millions
Aviation - By Roger Makings
Incompetence at a Nigerian airport will cost a South African cargo carrier millions of dollars in lost business over the peak Christmas season.
Pretoria-based Hydro Air Cargo's only Boeing 747 was wrecked last week at a Lagos Airport when it ran into a shallow trench on a runway that was being repaired.
Captain Vere Webb, Hydro Air's chief of flight operations, said this week that the Boeing had been cleared to land at Lagos's Murtala Muhammed Airport in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
The Hydro Air pilot twice told the air traffic controller that according to his notes the runway onto which he had been directed to land was under reconstruction. The controller denied this.
The runway appeared to be functioning normally. Its lights were on, navigation aids were working and there were no markings to indicate that it was unserviceable. However, shortly after touchdown the jumbo ran at high speed onto the unsurfaced section of runway, ripping out the left side
undercarriage and severely damaging a wing and two engines of the multimillion-dollar jet.
Reports said the air traffic controller ran away, but was arrested the next morning.
"That, of course, does not solve our problem," said Webb this week. "The jumbo was our only aircraft and we are in the middle of the peak season."
He said it was not clear if assessors would write off the 747 or deem it worth fixing. "Whichever way they go, it's going to take a couple of months, so we are trying frantically to source aircraft to meet our commitments to customers."
Hydro Air Cargo's chief executive, Frik Knoetze, said this week the accident was a severe blow to the company.
"We are looking to lease aircraft and crews that are going to cost far more than what it costs to run our own jumbo. "But, more importantly, we need to protect our markets. Other carriers will
be happy to take our business away from us."
Knoetze said Hydro, with a turnover of more than $30-million a year, flew almost a million kilograms of mainly perishables and dry goods to Europe from South Africa every month. Out of Europe it transported 1.1-million kilograms of freight to Nigeria, Spain and South Africa.
"We are operating in a highly competitive market, and in peak season aircraft and crews are not easy to come by. We are the only South African-based cargo carrier competing in Europe and you can bet the opposition are more than ready to move in on our markets. This will have a major effect on our business."