Emirates flight UAE782, a Boeing 777-200LR bound for Dubai with 285 passengers and 15 crew on board, was taxiing for departure at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on the night of 6 July 2015 when its right wingtip struck the tail fin of a parked HAK Air Boeing 737-400, according to the Accident Investigation Bureau's final report on the occurrence. Nobody on board either aircraft was hurt, though the parked HAK Air jet sustained a large gash to its tail.
The report found that the Emirates crew had originally planned to depart from runway 18R, but the tower advised that the runway was unserviceable while its edge lights were being repaired, leaving 18L as the only available option. Taxiing to reach it meant routing the wide-body jet across a taxiway bordering the General Aviation Terminal apron, at pilot's discretion because of the aircraft's wingspan, past aircraft parked closer to the taxiway than the layout was designed to allow.
Lighting and Markings Under Scrutiny
Investigators identified poor lighting on the General Aviation apron, faded parking markings and inconsistent enforcement of where aircraft could be parked as contributing factors, alongside the Emirates crew's decision to continue taxiing through a congested area. The Bureau issued safety recommendations to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and to the civil aviation authorities of both Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
An Airport Under Strain
The collision added to a difficult year for safety oversight at Nigeria's busiest airport, coming weeks after a domestic aircraft suffered a serious pressurisation fault shortly after departing the same runway complex, and just over a fortnight before another Aero Contractors jet was damaged on takeoff from the same field. For an airport already contending with ageing infrastructure and rising passenger numbers, the episode underscored how apron congestion and deferred maintenance could combine to put pressure on even routine operations.
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