THE Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has threatened that the federal government might restrict the United Kingdom’s British Airways from landing at Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
This is due to a slot issue in the UK that has restricted Nigeria’s airline, Air Peace, from flying to Heathrow, the UK’s number one airport in London.
Air Peace has flown its passengers to Gatwick Airport, London, since it began its flight operation in March 2024. Since it commenced operations, Air Peace has had conflicts with the UK authorities in a bid to get a slot at Heathrow.
Keyamo said that the ministry had written to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow Air Peace to fly to Heathrow in line with the reciprocity principle in the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).
Speaking at the 28th Annual Conference of the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) in Lagos, Keyamo argued that it was unjust to grant British Airways unrestricted access to MMIA, Nigeria’s busiest airport, while Nigerian airlines are not afforded the same privilege in the UK, contrary to the principles of the BASA
He noted that the ministry was awaiting a response from the ministry in the UK adding that insisted that countries must abide by the BASA arrangement that Nigeria reached with their governments
The minister stressed that the failure to do this might lead to a negative reaction from the Nigerian government.
He said, “We have already written to the United Kingdom to give Nigerian carriers, especially Air Peace Heathrow Airport, which is a tier one airport, just as we have British Airways, using our Lagos Airport. We may as well give BA Ilorin to operate to. When we asked for Heathrow Airport, you’re telling us to go to a slot committee. Who does that? Air Peace, I can tell you is on its way to Heathrow away from Gatwick.
“The local operators are struggling to cover their routes locally, not to talk of our international routes; Air France is coming here 10 times a week, we are not going to Paris, Lufthansa is coming here, we are not going to Frankfurt, Delta and United from America are all coming here, but we are not reciprocating. Even, though South African Airways is coming here, we are not going there.
“We only managed to have Air Peace in London and to Gatwick, but we are pushing for them to take us to Heathrow. You can’t tell us you have a slot committee. Your airport operator should know that you have an existing relationship and they should respect it. For connectivity, people prefer Heathrow. That is an airport you can have an airline to codeshare with so that there can be connectivity.”
The ICIR reported that the Nigerian government announced that local airlines would soon launch direct flights to America and South America. This would be the first-ever direct flight between Nigeria and South America.
The efforts are aimed at increasing Nigerian presence in global airspace, making travel more seamless and boosting the nation’s economy.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames