Officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja has cleared the air on reports stating that Lufthansa Airlines offloaded 45 passengers and all passengers checked in luggage in order to take off on the runway, which was reduced because of on-going work at the time.

Last week, earlier reports indicated that Lufthansa Airlines last Wednesday offloaded 45 passengers and all the luggage of about 200 passengers fully booked for the Abuja-Frankfurt flight, to reduce the weight of the aircraft so that it could take off from a shorter length of the runway.

This was because maintenance was going on at the runway at the time, which forced the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to cordon off that part, thus limiting aircraft from exhausting the full length of the runway before taking off.

But Abuja airport officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that other international airlines with wide body aircraft similar to that of Lufthansa also took off and landed on the runway under that maintenance condition and did not offload their passengers or their luggage.

They suggested that the airline might have taken a technical decision because it overbooked the flight and had excess luggage or the cockpit crew conversant with the runway condition at the time was changed, as Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued to that effect by FAAN.

Lufthansa on that Wednesday night operated Airbus A330-300 with about 200 passengers and crew on the flight.

Investigations also revealed that on the same July 23, British Airways operated Boeing B777 at 0816HRS with 245 passengers and 23crew; Qatar Airways operated Boeing B787 at 1403HRS with 251 passengers and 12 crew; Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing B777 LR aircraft at 1411HRS, 264 passengers and 14 crew.

Also, Egypt Air operated Boeing B737-800 at 1509HRS with 125 passengers and 7 crew; Africa World Airlines operated Embraer E145 at 1305HRS with 40 passengers and 4 crew; Asky Airlines operated B737 at 1719HRS with 64 passengers and 9 crew.

In addition, Turkish Airlines operated Airbus A330 at 2145HRS with 261 passengers and 10 crew; Air Cote D’ivoire operated Airbus A319 at 1047HRS with 84 passengers and 7 crew; Royal Air Maroc operated Boeing B737 – 0718HRS with 162 passengers and 6 crew and Air France operated Airbus A330 at 2152HRS with 215 passengers and 10 crew.

“So, you can see that it was not only Lufthansa that flew on that date. In fact, airlines that flew with wide body aircraft include British Airways, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines and Air France. I have to recall that Lufthansa on July 4 cancelled their flight and on 25 they didn’t depart with all the passengers. Lufthansa departed at 0015hrs,” the inside source said.

Also, it has to be noted that the German airline did not issue any statement to indicate that it offloaded passengers and luggage because of the reduction of the runway distance but that was what it explained to the passengers, justifying why they should drop from the flight along with all passengers checked- in luggage to be airlifted four days later, on July 27, 2025.

However, FAAN completed maintenance work on the runway and operations returned to normal since July 25, 2025. (BusinessDay)