Abuja - The airport in Nigeria's capital Abuja re-opened late on Thursday after being closed for much of the day to clear away a Saudi cargo plane that had overshot a runway, officials said.
“The B747 Saudi Air Cargo flight SVA 6814 that veered off the runway... has been successfully recovered to the apron and the airport re-opened for normal flight operations,” Joe Obi, spokesman of aviation minister said in a statement.
The aircraft had its mishap late on Wednesday as it landed on the airport runway, whose operating length has been shortened to 2.5km from the usual 3.6km because of maintenance work.
The Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau has commenced investigations into the incident and the preliminary report would be released as soon as possible, the statement said.
No casualties were reported in the incident, which forced the suspension of all flights.
Before its reopening, an official for a major local airline confirmed that “not a single flight has been operated in or out of the airport since this morning (Thursday),” leaving thousands of travellers stranded across Nigeria. - Sapa-AFP