Flights are finally moving again at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, after furious aviation workers brought the entire facility to a standstill in a dramatic showdown with the Federal Government over a controversial concession plan.

The airport was thrown into chaos when a coalition of aviation unions stormed the terminal and effectively shut it down. Access roads were blocked, terminal doors were locked, and both departures and arrivals were frozen. Passengers were left stranded outside the gates, dragging their luggage in confusion as vehicles were turned back and check-in counters remained firmly shut.

The trigger was a concession agreement for the Enugu airport, recently signed by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo. Workers say the deal was cooked up behind closed doors, with no real consultation and no regard for their future. To them, it is a secretive arrangement that sidelines those who actually run the airport.

In a strongly worded joint letter to the minister, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals blasted the concession plan as “insensitive, opaque and exclusionary.” They warned that industrial action was not just possible but guaranteed if the government refused to step back, review the deal and open up the process.

They made good on that threat. The shutdown paralysed operations for hours, exposing deep cracks in the Federal Government’s wider airport concession agenda. Behind the scenes, unions are openly afraid that these deals will translate into mass job losses, weaker labour protections and higher costs that will eventually be dumped on airlines and, ultimately, passengers.

After hours of tension and mounting anger from stranded travellers, Enugu Air announced that operations had resumed and that flights were once again taking off and landing. But the airline admitted that schedules were still in disarray and urged passengers to double-check their bookings and brace for possible rescheduling.

Despite the return of aircraft movements, nothing fundamental has been resolved. Union leaders are digging in, vowing to resist any concession they believe ignores workers and hides key details from the public. Their message is clear: if the government does not back down or renegotiate, more shutdowns could be on the way.

On the government side, there is silence. Attempts to get a reaction from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria went nowhere, with calls and messages to its spokesperson simply unanswered. For now, passengers may be relieved to see planes in the sky again over Enugu, but the battle over who really controls one of the South-East’s most important airports is only just beginning.