An Allied Air Cargo Boeing 737 freighter has sustained substantial damage after suffering from a runway excursion at Abuba Airport in Nigeria. The aircraft was completing an internal flight from Lagos from the incident occurred.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-400 freighter registered as 5N-JRT. The aircraft had departed from Lagos Murtala Mohammed International Airport (LOS) on December 11, 2024, as flight 4W206 operating a domestic cargo flight to Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV).
According to the Aviation Herald, the aircraft, with five crew members onboard at the time, touched down on runway 22 at Abuja Airport at 10:05 local time. However, during its landing roll-out, the aircraft reportedly veered to the right of the runway and exited the paved surface, crossing a dried grassy area before coming to a halt with its nose wedged in a ditch. The five occupants were taken to a hospital but were later released with no reported injuries.
Disaster averted as an Allied Air Cargo aircraft skidded off the Runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
— MayGist (@MayGistv) December 11, 2024
Five persons on board were safely evacuated with no reported injury and taken to the FAAN clinic for further checks.
The runway is being cleared and is… pic.twitter.com/7J3sUJpxNQ
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Obiageli Orah. “At 10:05am on December 11, 2024, an Allied Air Cargo aircraft with registration number 5N-JRT skidded off Runway 22 at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with five souls on board with no reported injury. They were all safely evacuated and taken to the FAAN clinic for further checks.”
“The Airport Emergency response team is on the scene along with accident investigators. The runway is being cleared and is expected to reopen for operations as soon as possible. We would like to thank the aviation community and the general public for their understanding and patience. We also request that all speculation be put on hold until the preliminary report is released by the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).”
The NSIB has confirmed that it has opened an investigation into the occurrence. Imageds from the scene posted online show the aircraft resting in a nose-down attitude with what appears to be the right main gear having sheared off during the landing roll, which would explain the reported veering to the right-hand side of the runway. Although the aircraft slid over the area of dried grass, there are no tracks in the surface from the right main gear, further evidencing the theory that the right main gear failed upon landing.
According to ch-aviation, the aircraft involved in this latest in a stream of incidents at Abuja Airport was 31.8 years old having first flown in February 1993. The aircraft was delivered new to Air Berlin (now defunct) before also flying for Pegasus Airlines (Turkey), Philippine Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, and Nok Air (Thailand). It was converted to a cargo variant in 2023 and joined Allied Air Cargo in April 2014 for whom it has served since.
Allied Air Cargo is a Nigerian airline that operates a fleet of four Boeing 737 freighters (one Boeing 737-800F and three 737-400Fs) on regular scheduled freight flights between its base in Lagos and Abuja, Port Harcourt, Douala in Cameroun, Nairobi in Kenya, and Libreville in Gabon. Alongside its own services, the company operates flights on behalf of German logistics giant DHL (in whose livery at least one of the 737s is operated) and Allied Air Cargo serves the company’s Liege European hub twice a week.
Cally Air 737-300 veers off the runway while landing at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. The aircraft became stuck and could not be moved from the runway for hours. pic.twitter.com/3xOMnGbk0d
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) November 12, 2023
The incident comes just over a year after a Cally Air Boeing 737-300 veered of the same runway at Abuja Airport on November 12, 2023, in a remarkably similar incident to that which has befallen the Allied Air. In that case, the aircraft returned to service and it remains to be seen whether 5N-JRT will be repaired.