Port Harcourt International Airport is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

located in Omagwa, a suburb of Port Harcourt, the capital city of the

Rivers State Rivers State, also known as Rivers, is a state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed in 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include: Imo to the north, Abia and Akwa Ib ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. 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

President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

on 25 October 2018. In 2009, the airport served 1,081,587 passengers, making it the third-busiest airport in

History

On 18 August 2006, the airport was closed for repairs. The

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is the civil aviation authority of Nigeria. the Director General of NCAA is Captain Muhktar Usman. The current Director General is Capt. Musa Shuaibu Nuhu. Offices Its head office (Corporate Headquart ...

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 Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport , also known as Imo State Airport, serves Owerri, the capital city of Imo State in southeastern Nigeria. It is located in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area, Imo State. The building of the airport commenced ...

(

Owerri Owerri ( , ) is the capital city of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of Igboland. It is also the state's largest city, followed by Orlu, Okigwe and Ohaji/Egbema. Owerri consists of three Local Government Areas including Owerri Municipal, ...

), Akanu Ibiam International Airport (

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

) and

Margaret Ekpo International Airport Margaret Ekpo International Airport , also known as Calabar Airport, is an airport serving Calabar, the capital of the Cross River State in Nigeria. The airport is named after Margaret Ekpo, who was one of Nigeria's pioneering feminist and anticol ...

(

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and cre ...

), while international flights were diverted to

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is an international airport serving Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. It is the main airport serving the Nigerian capital city and was named after Nigeri ...

(

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

) or

Murtala Mohammed International Airport Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) ( yo, Pápá Ọkọ̀ Òfurufú Káríayé Múrítàlá Mùhammẹ̀d) is an international airport located in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, and is the major airport serving the entire state. The ai ...

(

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

). 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.

Other facilities

The

has its Port Harcourt office on the airport grounds.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

These data show number of passengers movements into the airport, according to the

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is a service organization statutorily charged to manage all Commercial Airports in Nigeria and provide service to both passenger and cargo airlines. Generally, to create conditions for the development i ...

's Aviation Sector Summary Reports.

Accidents and incidents

*On 17 December 1996, an

MK Airlines MK Airlines Ltd. was a cargo airline from Ghana (registered in the United Kingdom from 2006 onwards, with its headquarters in Hartfield, East Sussex), which was operational between 1990 and 2010, concentrating on freight services to and from ...

DC-8-55F arriving from Luxembourg struck trees, landed short of the runway and burned. All four crew survived. *On 27 November 2001, an MK Airlines

Boeing 747-200F The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

crashed in bad weather on short final to Port Harcourt International Airport, killing one crew member. 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. * On 6 June 2005, an

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

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. *On 10 December 2005,

Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 (SO1145/OSL1145) was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight from Nigeria's capital of Abuja (ABV) to Port Harcourt ( PHC). At about 14:08 local time (13:08 UTC) on 10 December 2005, Flight 1145 from Abu ...

crashed at Port Harcourt Airport after flying from

. Of 110 passengers and crew on board, there were only two survivors. * On 22 June 2019, an

Air Peace Air Peace is a private Nigerian airline founded in 2013 with its head office in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, the flag carrier and the largest airline of Nigeria and West Africa. Air Peace, which provides passenger and charter services, serves the ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

with 87 passengers and 6 crew from

to Port Harcourt exited the runway while landing in heavy rain and came to rest in soft mud.

References

External links

*
Port Harcourt Airport
at OurAirports * {{authority control Airports in Rivers State Buildings and structures in Port Harcourt