October 02, (THEWILL) – The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has said that with the new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) signed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will provide more options for indigenous carriers who are also flying to destinations in the Middle East and other lands.
The Minister, who was aboard Emirates Airline in its Day-2 flight on Wednesday, after returning to Nigeria on Tuesday, said the FG delegation went to negotiate a new BASA so as to secure the route for our local operators.
Stating that he stood his ground concerning BASA, Keyamo said, “And if you look at the new one, it said to any destination, so nobody is going to have to say, well, this is prime, this is not prime airport. Our agreement with them is they fly to any destination, we fly to any destination in the UAE. So it’s purely reciprocal in that respect.
“First of all, you know that we have a variety of choices now. We have more competition on different international routes now. That’s what it’s all about, is to ensure healthy competition, and healthy competition leads to competitive prizes for the benefit of the Nigerian people. I’m sure you know, without mentioning an airline, when this was suspended, I’m sure you know that some other airlines ripped the benefits. Many of them increased their frequencies to Nigeria. Many of them increased their prizes because the seats were not available, flights were not available, and all of that.
“You also know that why we fought for this is that Dubai in particular is a major hub of the world. It links virtually every country of the world. I have not seen any major country, and I use that word advice as a major country, that is not linked from Dubai. So for Nigerian travellers, it is easy to access any part of the world by simply travelling to Dubai and connecting to that country. And for our airlines too, I can speak, I can tell you that we also secured some kind of code-sharing agreement.
“We told them that if they want to code-share, our airlines will have the right of first refusal. We said our local airlines will have the right of first refusal because there will be a lot of code-sharing in this respect now. And as I speak with you, they are speaking with many of our local operators. I went with some of them, I’m sure you saw some of them. Emirates is speaking with a lot of our local operators now, and that is also for the benefit of our local aviation industry.
According to the Minister, he took all the pain to go back to UAE to sign a new BASA, adding “I went there, we signed a new air service agreement, bilateral air service agreement, you know, redefining our relationship altogether again, making it more healthy, making it more open, and for the benefits, especially of the Nigerian people, and I decided to accompany them there.
“But I am sure you heard from them, the horses mouth, not me. They say they are back to stay, they are not going anywhere again, because I think the suspension hurt both sides. They felt it and we felt it. But now they are back.”
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
