Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN, yesterday said with the revised bilateral air service agreement (BASA) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nigerian airlines can fly to any airport in the UAE.
Keyamo who spoke at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) on arrival with Emirates Airlines which just resumed flight operations to Nigeria after two years, stated that the reopening of flights to Nigeria is in the best interest of the Nigerian people.
Daily Trust reports that Emirates returned to Nigeria on October 1st, 2024 after suspending flights for over two years.
The Emirates Airline’s return followed the resolution of the issue of trapped funds with the Nigerian government.
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While the airline formally returned on Tuesday, the Minister of Aviation and some chief executives of the aviation agencies arrived yesterday aboard an Emirates’ Airline’s flight after which a brief ceremony was held with officials of the airline.
It would be recalled that Keyamo had finalised agreement with the UAE authorities to guarantee reciprocal rights for Nigerian airlines willing to start flying to any of the UAE cities, especially Dubai.
Speaking with newsmen, Keyamo said, “The first thing we did when we went to negotiate a new BASA with the UAE was to also secure the route for our local operators. Our agreement with them is that they fly to any destination, we fly to any destination in the UAE.”
He said the return of Emirates would boost competition on the route as passengers now have a variety of choices to make.
“This is what this is all about, to ensure healthy competition and a healthy competition leads to competitive prices for the benefit of the Nigerian people,” he added.
He recalled that some airlines increased their prices when Emirates suspended operation, adding that the Nigerian government fought for the return of Emirates because of the strategic position of Dubai as a global travel hub.
“For Nigerian travellers, it is easy to access any part of the world by simply travelling to Dubai and connecting any flight and for our airlines too, we have also secured some kind of code-sharing agreement. We have told them (Emirates) that if they want to code-share, our airlines would have the right of first refusal,” he said.
Keyamo disclosed that Emirates is also in talks with some domestic carriers to explore the possibility of code-share.
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