A government official reported that an Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane flying from Addis Ababa into Zambia accidentally landed at an airport that is still under construction on Monday, April 5.
The plane landed at the incompleted airport that is currently served by Simon Kwasa Kapwepwe International Airport in Zambia’s northern Copperbelt province on Sunday.
Mishek Lungu, the transport ministry’s permanent secretary said the pilot landed ‘by error’.
‘When he was about to land he was communicating with the radar and they told him, ‘We can’t see you’,’ Lungu told AFP. ‘So he used his sight as he had no control and landed at an airport still under construction’ Lungu added.
Ethiopian Airlines has confirmed the incident and has confirmed that an investigation is ongoing with Zambian authorities.
In an email response to AFP, a spokesperson mentioned that pilots had not been notified of the construction work of the new airport that has the ‘same runway-heading orientation’ as the existing one.
‘The fact that there was no NOTAM (notice to airmen)… and the close proximity between the two airports may have contributed to the incident,’ the spokesperson said.
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