A ValueJet aircraft slid off the taxiway shortly after landing at Port Harcourt International Airport in Omagwa, Rivers State, on the afternoon of 14 November 2023, sending a brief wave of panic through passengers before all 62 travellers and five crew members were confirmed safe. The airline said in a statement that the aircraft "slipped on taxi turn after landing safely and cleared off the runway," and that no damage to the aircraft was recorded.
The incident occurred at around 3:30pm local time as the aircraft attempted to clear the runway following what the airline described as an otherwise normal landing. Airport authorities briefly restricted movement in the affected area while ground crews recovered the aircraft, though flight operations at Port Harcourt International Airport were not significantly disrupted.
Part of a Difficult Year for Domestic Safety Incidents
The Port Harcourt excursion capped a year in which Nigeria's domestic carriers recorded a string of runway and taxiway incidents that, while not resulting in fatalities, drew renewed attention to ground-handling and runway-condition issues at some of the country's airports. Earlier in the year, a Max Air Boeing 737 was involved in a hard landing in Abuja, and an Aero Contractors aircraft returned to Abuja shortly after departure following an in-flight emergency.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, the agency responsible for probing civil aviation occurrences, is expected to review the circumstances of the Port Harcourt incident as part of its routine mandate, even in cases where an aircraft sustains no damage and no injuries are reported, in order to identify any contributing factors related to runway surface conditions, weather, or aircraft handling.
No Disruption to Onward Operations
ValueJet confirmed that the affected aircraft was inspected before returning to service, and the airline continued its scheduled operations elsewhere in its network in the days following the incident.
