Port Harcourt International Airport

Port Harcourt International Airport (IATA: PHC, ICAO: DNPO) is an international airport located in Omagwa, a suburb of Port Harcourt, the capital city of the Rivers State in Nigeria. The airport has two terminals for both international and domestic flights. The new International terminal was commissioned by the executive president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on 25 October 2018. In 2009, the airport served 1,081,587 passengers, making it the third-busiest airport in Nigeria^{[citation needed]}.

Port Harcourt International Airport
IATA: PHC ICAO: DNPO
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)
Serves	Port Harcourt
Location	Omagwa, Nigeria
Elevation AMSL	91 ft / 27.7 m
Coordinates	5°00′55″N 6°57′00″E / 5.01528°N 6.95000°E / 5.01528; 6.95000
Map
PHC Location of the airport in Nigeria
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03/21 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 1,223,807 Passenger change 14–15 8.5%
Sources: FAAN^[1] WAD^[2] GCM^[3] Google Maps^[4]

History

In 1997, Air France started flights to Paris on Boeing 747s.^[5][6]

On 18 August 2006, the airport was closed for repairs. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority stated that the emergency shutdown was in order to overhaul the runway and build a fence around the facility. Such maintenance had been in planning stages for several months, but an electrical fire on 17 August 2006 made repairs immediately necessary. All domestic flights were diverted to Sam Mbakwe Airport (Owerri), Akanu Ibiam International Airport (Enugu) and Margaret Ekpo International Airport (Calabar), while international flights were diverted to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (Abuja) or Murtala Mohammed International Airport (Lagos).

Repair work started in January 2007, while re-opening was originally expected to be in August 2007. In June 2007, work was suspended due to safety concerns of the engineers.

In December 2007, the airport was reopened to a limited capacity. Operations were restricted to daytime until the first quarter of 2008, by which time the new CAT III lighting system became fully operational.

In 2015, the airport gained notoriety for having been declared the worst in the world; amid this, the construction of a new passenger terminal was underway, which later opened in 2018.^[7][8]

Other facilities

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has its Port Harcourt office on the airport grounds.^[9]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Aero Contractors	Abuja, Lagos
Africa's Connection STP	Sao Tome
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Peace	Abuja, Kano, Lagos
Arik Air	Abuja, Lagos, Libreville
Cronos Airlines	Accra, Malabo^[10]
Lufthansa	Frankfurt
Qatar Airways	Doha^[11]
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul,^[12] Malabo
ValueJet	Lagos

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air France Cargo	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Atlanta Icelandic	Liège
Cargolux Airlines	Luxembourg
Western Global Airlines	Liège

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at PHC airport. See Wikidata query.

These data show number of passengers movements into the airport, according to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria's Aviation Sector Summary Reports.

Year	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Passengers	917,151	679,282	278,363	868,458	1,080,088	1,211,816	1,346,611	1,192,136	1,220,306	1,337,477	1,223,807
Growth (%)	5.39%	25.94%	59.02%	211.99%	24.37%	12.20%	11.12%	11.47%	2.36%	9.60%	8.50%
Source: Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Aviation Sector Reports (2010-2013,^[13] 2014,^[14] Q3-Q4 of 2015,^[15] and Q1-Q2 of 2016,^[16])

Accidents and incidents

• On 17 December 1996, an MK Airlines DC-8-55F arriving from Luxembourg struck trees, landed short of the runway and burned. All four crew survived.^[17]
• On 27 November 2001, an MK Airlines Boeing 747-200F crashed in bad weather on short final to Port Harcourt International Airport, killing one crew member.^[18] Nigeria's Ministry of Aviation, produced a Civil Aviation Accident Report (FMA/AIPB/389) that found the pilot was using a nonstandard final approach on autopilot below 2000 feet, contrary to the company's policy.^[19][20]
• On 6 June 2005, an Air France Airbus A330 carrying roughly 200 passengers collided with a herd of cows just after touchdown at Port Harcourt Airport. There were no fatalities on board and the aircraft was not significantly damaged.^[21]
• On 10 December 2005, Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crashed at Port Harcourt Airport after flying from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Of 110 passengers and crew on board, there were only two survivors.^[22][23]
• On 22 June 2019, an Air Peace Boeing 737 with 87 passengers and 6 crew from Abuja to Port Harcourt exited the runway while landing in heavy rain and came to rest in soft mud.^[24]

See also

• Transport in Nigeria
• List of airports in Nigeria

References

1. Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN): Port Harcourt International Airport
2. . World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
3. Airport information for PHC at Great Circle Mapper.
4. "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
5. Eguzozie, Ben (14 June 2017). "Air France – KLM marks 20 years of flight to Port Harcourt". BusinessDay. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
6. "News in brief". World Airline News. 10 February 1997. ProQuest 195001173.
7. "Nigeria defends world's worst airport dubbed 'corrupt, dirty with a tent for arrivals'". The National. 11 November 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
8. "Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Nigeria". Airport Technology. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
9. "Contact". Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Retrieved 21 June 2020. Port Harcourt Regional Office Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Nigeria
10. Cronos Airline Launches Direct Port Harcourt-Accra Flights
11. https://www.qatarairways.com/en/press-releases/2022/january/qatar-airways-announces-the-start-of-service-to-kano-and-port-ha.html?activeTag=Press-releases^{[bare URL]}
12. Turkish Airlines adds Port Harcourt service from late-June 2019
13. "Passenger Only Aviation Data Report 2010–13 to Q1 2014". Retrieved 30 May 2017.
14. "Aviation Sector Summary Report Q4 2014 – Q1 2015". Retrieved 30 May 2017.
15. "NIGERIA AVIATION SECTOR Q3-Q4 2015 REPORT". Retrieved 30 May 2017.
16. "Nigerian Aviation Sector Summary Report: Q1-Q2 2016". Retrieved 30 May 2017.
17. ^[Usurped!]AirDisaster.com
18. ^[Usurped!]AirDisaster.com
19. . 1 March 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
20. "Excerpt from Aviation Investigation Report A04H0004, p.58" (PDF).
21. "Timeline of Plane Crashes In Nigeria | Channels Television". www.channelstv.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
22. "Nigeria Marks 10 Years Since Plane Crash Of Sosoliso Flight 1145". Sahara Reporters. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
23. "Final report on the accident to Sosoliso Airlines DC 9-32 aircraft registered 5N – BFD at Port Harcourt International Airport on 10th December 2005" (PDF). Nigerian Federal Ministry of Aviation. 20 July 2006. FMA/AIPB/424. (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2012.
24. "Incident: Peace B735 at Port Harcourt on Jun 22nd 2019, runway excursion on landing".

External links

  Media related to Port Harcourt International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Accident history for Port Harcourt Airport at Aviation Safety Network
• Port Harcourt Airport at OurAirports
• Aeronautical chart and airport information for Port Harcourt Airport at SkyVector