The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria was compelled to temporarily divert flights from Terminal 3 of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, on 2 July 2026, following an electrical spark incident at the facility.
FAAN's Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr Henry Agbebire, confirmed the incident in a statement issued in Lagos, describing the diversion as a precautionary measure taken by airport operations management while FAAN's technical teams assessed the situation and conducted the necessary safety checks.
What Happened
The electrical spark occurred at Terminal 3, which serves a number of domestic and regional carriers at the Lagos airport. On discovering the fault, FAAN's operations team immediately implemented its standard incident response protocol — diverting departures and arrivals away from the affected terminal to alternative facilities within the airport while engineers investigated the source and extent of the electrical fault.
Agbebire said the situation was brought under control and operations were restored to normal following the completion of the technical inspection and safety clearance. He did not specify the duration of the diversion or the number of flights affected during the period when Terminal 3 was taken off line.
Context: MMIA Under Active Transformation
The incident occurs at a time when MMIA is undergoing the most significant infrastructure transformation in its nearly five-decade history. Terminal 1 is currently fully closed for a ₦712 billion rehabilitation that will strip the facility to its structural frame and rebuild every internal system from scratch. The rehabilitation, expected to take 22 months, has concentrated all international operations at Terminal 2 and a temporary departure facility, while domestic services continue from Terminals 3 and the MMA2 concession terminal managed by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services.
The electrical incident at Terminal 3 underscores the operational challenges of maintaining safe, reliable services at a major international airport while a transformative construction programme proceeds simultaneously across other parts of the same campus — and reinforces the importance of FAAN's ongoing maintenance and technical monitoring programmes at all airport terminals.
FAAN said its engineering and maintenance teams would conduct a full inspection of the electrical systems at Terminal 3 following the incident to ensure full operational integrity is confirmed and sustained.
