– Says Nigerian Airlines Can Fly To Any Route In UAE
LAGOS – Emirates airlines is in talks with some Nigerian airlines for a possible codeshare arrangement, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has said.
Keyamo also disclosed that the new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) arrangement Nigeria entered into with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enables Nigerian airlines to operate directly from the country to any of the seven emirates in the Asian country, including Dubai.
Keyamo stated these on Wednesday in an interview with aviation correspondents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos when he arrived in the country with Emirates Airlines from Dubai.
According to Keyamo, Emirates Airlines was already in discussions with some Nigerian airlines for some codeshare arrangements.
The minister explained that the new BASA arrangement gives the Nigerian airlines the right of first refusal in case of any codeshare arrangement by the airline.
Keyamo, however, did not disclose the airlines the UAE carrier was in talk with, but reiterated that the government would continue to protect the country’s airlines in their drive to grow.
He said: “The first thing we did when we went to negotiate a new BASA arrangement with the UAE was to also secure the routes for our local operators. I stood my ground on this and if you look at the new BASA, it said to any destination. Our agreement with them is that they fly to any destination and we also can fly to any destination in the UAE.
“So, it’s purely reciprocal. We now have varieties of choices; we have more competition on more routes. It is to ensure healthy competition and a healthy competition leads to competitive prices for the benefits of the Nigerian people.
‘As I am speaking with you, they are speaking with many of our local operators and that is for the benefit of our local industry. We are also free to fly to any airport in the UAE. They have Sharjay, Etihad, Dubai and others. We insisted on that. I can bet you this is for the entire good of the Nigerian people.”
Keyamo further lauded President Bola Tinubu for taking it as a top priority to partner with major countries and organisations in his drive to grow the country.
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He insisted that UAE was one of such major countries that Nigeria wanted to partner with and assured that it would be a win-win for all.
Keyamo regretted that the relationship with the UAE went down at a point in time due to various reasons and further went sore with the suspension of visa issuance to Nigerians.
He insisted that the severe relationship was a loss to both countries, but maintained that Nigerians had lots of investments and interests in the UAE.
“And you can see that people are excited and happy that we are restoring our relationship with the UAE and that is why I took the pains to go back there to sign a new BASA, defining our relationship more and making it more healthy, more open and especially for the benefits of the Nigerian people.
“I am sure you heard it from them, they said they are back to stay because I think the suspension hurts both sides – we felt it and they felt it. I am sure you know that when the route was suspended, some airlines reaped the benefits, they increased their frequencies to Nigeria, many of them increased their prices too because the seats were not available,” he said.
Emirates had resumed flight services to Nigeria on October 1, 2024 with a daily service between Lagos and Dubai.
The airline returned after two years of suspension of the route over blocked funds amounting to over $85 million.
The airline is operating to Nigeria with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
The UAE has also introduced stringent measures to Nigerians flying into the country, among which is the minimum of $10,000 in the account balance of an applicant.
This measure would further reduce the chances of Nigerians travelling to the UAE country.
At its inaugural flight on Tuesday, the airline arrived Nigeria with just 105 passengers out of the over 300 capacity of the aircraft, a source close to the airline confided in our correspondent.
