The Federal Government of Nigeria has once again reiterated its commitment to enhancing the Nigerian aviation industry, pledging to formulate policies aimed at boosting the capacities of local airline operators. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), made this commitment at the 28th edition of the League of Aviation and Airport Correspondents (LAAC) conference, on Friday in Lagos.
As part of its commitment, the minister stated that it in currently in talks with the United Kingdom to enable Nigerian carriers, especially Air Peace which currently operates to Gatwick, access to Heathrow Airport, considering its flag carrier, British Airways operates to Nigeria’s Tier-1 airports.
In his words, he said, “We are working and collaborating with Nigerian carriers to ensure that they are supported. 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 given British Airways Lagos, our tier one airport. 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.”
He added that for the longest time, Nigerian airlines have been denied access to most countries tier one airport overseas and it was high time the airlines begin to enjoy the best in line with the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). “We will look into so many agreements that we have that are not working in the interest of our airlines. We need to support them to grow but they must show capacity to reciprocate many of the agreements. Air France flies to Nigeria and no Nigerian airline is flying to Paris. Lufthansa, Delta and a host of others but no Nigerian carrier is operating to Frankfurt or the US.”
Also, as part of its five-point agenda, Keyamo stated that the government is focusing on aircraft Maintenance Repairs Overhaul (MRO) for the local aviation industry, saying investors are already talking with the government and pleading to invest in the project which is going to be on a PPP basis. “Very soon we are going to advertise and we are going to call people with money. Don’t say foreigners are coming to take your business. This is a big business. We need more MROs and it will service the whole of West Africa and Central Africa. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet. The Chinese are talking to us, the Europeans are talking to us. Financiers and banks are talking to us. You can’t build an MRO in a facility that does not exist because you need to taxi to it. They must build it in an airport. Anyone building an MRO now for the wide-bodies is doing something. They have to talk to us for us to give you land. We are going to do our master plan for the MRO. We are calling and not begging for you to come and make money. There’s money to be made here.”
He also added that having a functional MRO in Nigeria will save the country a lot of foreign exchange.
