(CNN) – An Ethiopian Airlines plane landed incorrectly at an unopened airport still being built in Zambia, the carrier confirmed on Monday.
The flight service is a freight service traveling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Ndola, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport. It landed on Sunday in the new Copperbelt International Airport, which has not yet been inaugurated, in Zambia.
The flight – ET 3891 – landed safely at the new airport, Ethiopian Airlines added.
Copperbelt International Airport is approximately 21 kilometers by car from Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport.
The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Misheck Lungu, told the AFP news agency that the pilot “accidentally” landed at the unopened airport.
“When he was about to land, he communicated with the radar and they told him, ‘We can not see you,'” Lungu told AFP.
“So he used his sight as he had no control and landed at an airport that is still under construction.”
Ethiopian Airlines said: “Although details of the incident are being investigated in cooperation with the Zambian Aviation Authorities, the fact that no NOTAM (notice to pilots) has been issued regarding the construction of the new airport which has the same runway orientation as the existing one and the proximity between the two airports may have contributed to the incident. ‘
“As always, Ethiopian Airlines takes aviation safety very seriously and considers it the highest priority and accordingly all necessary corrective and preventive measures will be taken in accordance with the findings of the investigation,” the statement read.
The new airport would be completed in October 2020, according to Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL), which manages the country’s international airports. Construction has been delayed due to the pandemic, and the facility should be completed this year, ZACL told CNN.
The new airport where the plane landed has a runway that has been fully completed, ZACL added, and as of last month, the rest of the facility has completed at least 88%.
ZACL said the new airport, which would initially be called Copperbelt International Airport, should now take the name of the existing one – Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport – with the original name returning to the original name Ndola International Airport and no longer in use be for commercial flights.