WINDHOEK- The rescue and firefighting category of Hosea Kutako International Airport was restored over the weekend from Category 5 to Category 9, after the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) addressed the shortcomings in its firefighting equipment.
The airport, the country’s biggest and main international runway, was abruptly downgraded two weeks ago due to safety concerns.
But the Minister of Works and Transport, Erkki Nghimtina, confirmed the status restoration yesterday.
Nghimtina said the downgrading had caused a lot of inconveniences, but government was pleased that the NAC met the 15-day deadline to rectify all operational issues identified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
“The inconveniences affected the President, the Prime Minister and Cabinet. But we did it in a few days,” Nghimtina told New Era.
“Other countries take even longer. We don’t want to go back. We have to move ahead. The personnel are well trained and they know how to use the equipment. Even the President of the United States of America can come here, safety is here,” an evidently hugely relieved Nghimtina said.
Hosea Kutako was downgraded after the airport failed to meet international ICAO standards on fire and maintenance as well as the upkeep of the runway.
The downgrading forced the national airline Air Namibia to immediately relocate its intercontinental flight operations, particularly those from Frankfurt, to Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia as well as Botswana.
Although Air Namibia had announced that it would divert its flights to Lusaka, Nghimtina yesterday said this actually did not happen.
“We never flew to Lusaka. Who went to Lusaka to check whether their facilities are better than ours here in Namibia?” he queried.
ICAO’s decision come in the wake of the airport being found to be severely ill-equipped to handle emergency landings and take-offs, contrary to the requirements of international airport standards to handle modern large aircraft. Hosea Kutako had non-functioning fire trucks, inadequate firefighting equipment, poorly trained firefighters, poor maintenance of the runway and other crucial facilities that failed during an ICAO audit.
NAC acting chief executive officer Tamer El-Kallawi yesterday announced that the review audit was conducted successfully.
“ICAO does not have to come here. All the results were forwarded to them. We had a video conference that showed the demonstration last week. We had to show all documents and proof of ownership of the trucks,” El-Kallawi noted.
He said two new fire trucks, which had already been ordered before the audit, were received at the NAC and training on their operation was conducted and certified accordingly.
El-Kallawi noted that the airport currently has four aviation fire and rescue vehicles in place with the total capacity exceeding the requirements for Category 9.
“All serviceable conditions with emphasis on maintenance agreements and standing operating procedures to avoid a repetition of what transpired,” he added.
Further, he said nine new fire trucks are due for delivery shortly and will be distributed accordingly.
Other measures include additional fire and rescue personnel who have been deployed to the airport from smaller airports to intensify the shift strength of Hosea Kutako.
NAC revealed that they were also busy recruiting more firefighters. The airport currently has 48 firefighters.
However, the runaway still cannot accommodate the new Airbus 380.
The downgrade also saw two NAC deputy chief fire officers – Jerome Mouton and Raymond Isaak – suspended.
By Albertina Nakale