FG place ban on EU flights
The Federal Government has put in force a policy that reciprocates the position of other blocs in granting permission to airlines to resume operations into the country as it reopens international flights.
The government said that only airlines from countries that allow flights from Nigeria will be allowed to fly into and out of Nigeria.
The government specifically stated that airlines from the European Union would not be allowed into Nigeria as the EU had recently placed a bar on flights coming from Nigeria.
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Recall that the Council of the European Union had recently opened its borders to 15 countries, excluding Nigeria.
Speaking at Thursday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the government’s decision was triggered by the ban placed by some countries on flights from Nigeria.
Sirika, who was represented by the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said that the decision was taken in the interest of Nigerians.
“On the list of countries (that are banned), we are working on the comprehensive list, but the main one that came up is when the EU opened their borders effective 1st July, Nigeria was among the list of 54 countries that were not allowed to enter the EU.
“To my understanding, as the situation changes, they are going to look at the list and change it. But so far, we don’t have any contrary information to that first one that Nigeria is banned from going to the EU.
“So, as we open our airspace, we are going to apply the issue of reciprocity to those (EU) countries.”
Sirika also stated that airlines would be duly informed on the arrangements that had been put in place to ensure a smooth resumption of flights.
He stated that in the meantime, only a few flights per day would be allowed, and that test runs would be conducted to determine the workability of the protocols put in place for the safe resumption of flights.
