In a bid to address the lopsidedness in the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and other countries, the Federal Government has designated Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Medview, on the lucrative Lagos-London route.
This development would lead to Nigeria fully reciprocating the pact which stipulates that countries can designate same number of carriers to each other’s territory. While Britain designated Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways to Nigeria with 21 frequencies, only Arik Air operates to London with a daily flight to London Heathrow Airport. Aside the London route, other designated routes are those in Europe and Africa. In total, Medview was given 10 new foreign routes. The approval was contained in a letter addressed to the airline management dated April 23 by the Ministry of Aviation.
The letter which was signed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, by the Deputy Director, Air Transport Management in the ministry, M.S. Noibi listed the new designated routes as: London in United Kingdom, Lisbon in Portugal, Douala in Cameroun and Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo. Other routes are: Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire, Bamako in Mali, Monrovia in Liberia, Conakry in Guinea and Freetown in Sierra Leone.
The letter, however, gave the airline deadline within which to commence operations to the affected routes or lose the right. “You are advised to comply with all the rules and regulations of the aeronautical authorities of Nigeria and the respective countries.
“Also, failure to operate any of the routes mentioned above for more than six International Air Transport Association (IATA) seasons will lead to revocation of the designation in accordance with extant policy on designations,” the approval letter stated. When New Telegraph visited the airline, preparations have been set in motion by the management to put all logistics on ground for the commencement of operations to the foreign routes.
http://nigeria.shafaqna.com/EN/NG/303837
