Warri Airport

Warri Airport
Osubi Airstrip
IATA: QRW – ICAO: DNSU
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Shell
Serves Warri
Location Osubi, Nigeria
Coordinates 5°35′50″N 5°49′10″E / 5.59722°N 5.81944°E / 5.59722; 5.81944
Map
QRW

Location of the airport in Nigeria

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 1,800 5,906 Asphalt
Sources: Google Maps[1] GCM[2]

Warri Airport (IATA: QRW, ICAO: DNSU), also known as Osubi Airstrip, is an airport serving the city of Warri in Delta State, Nigeria. It is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of the city.

The runway length does not include a 150 metres (490 ft) displaced threshold/overrun on each end, making the total paved length 2,100 metres (6,900 ft). The Osubi non-directional beacon (Ident: OS) is located on the field.[3]

Airstrip

Prior to construction of the airport, a small airstrip had been created next to a congested part of the city of Warri during the 1960s. The runway was approximately 700 metres (2,300 ft) in length. There was a small terminal building and an aircraft hangar. Small charter aircraft of Aero Contractors and other firms provided service to and from Lagos airport and other Nigerian cities.

Construction of the airport

Piper PA-23 Aztec of Aero Contractors (Nigeria) at Warri airstrip in May 1970

The federal government first drew up plans to build an airport here in the late 1970s to allow easy transport into Warri city by air because of its status as an oil city, but the plan languished for over two decades. Meanwhile, people coming in and out of Warri continued to use the old airstrip in a congested part of the city. The airstrip could only accommodate small aircraft on its short runway, so that whenever a plane took off or landed,[4] the authorities had to close off an adjacent road to traffic so that a passing car would not be clipped.

Finding it harder and harder to conduct business with the old airstrip, Shell decided to build one on its own. The airport was commissioned and open for commercial use on 1 April 1999 with Shell (SPDC) landing a modern Dornier 328 and Aero Contractors 50-passenger Dash aircraft at the Osubi airport. Since the airstrip opened for public use, it is reckoned to be one of the busiest aviation facilities in Nigeria[5] and it is being operated in partnership with other oil companies.

The maintenance and facilities are among the best in the country and traffic flow is one of the highest. In the first six months of the opening of Osubi Airstrip, more than 100,000 passengers passed through just as it handled 3,500 aircraft movements.

The Delta State government is making plans with the airstrip operator Shell in upgrading and building a longer second runway of 3,700 metres (12,100 ft) due to the increase in air traffic.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Aero Contractors Lagos, Port Harcourt NAF Base
Arik Air Abuja, Lagos

See also

References

  1. ↑ Google Maps - Warri
  2. ↑ Airport information for QRW at Great Circle Mapper.
  3. ↑ SkyVector - OS NDB
  4. ↑ "That's No Airport. In Nigeria, It's a Grand Illusion.". New York Times. May 26, 1999. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  5. ↑ "The Osubi Airstrip Success Story" (PDF). Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria. October 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
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