By Chioma Obinagwam
The Nigerian Government has announced that international flight operations might be resuming before October 2020.
The country’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed on his Twitter handle on Tuesday.
“International flight resumption date is not October. NAMA just issued a routine 90 days Notices to Airmen (NOTAM). In liaison with Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, we will announce the agreed date, regardless of the ban by Europe, United Arab Emirates (UAE), etc. may be earlier than October,” he tweeted.
This is despite the country’s ban of flight operations from Europe, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others.
This is clarification from the minister is coming after the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) had issued a routine 90-day Notices to Airmen (NOTAM). This forecloses the resumption of international flight operations around August.
International Flight resumption date is not October. NAMA just issued a routine 90 day Notices to Airmen (NOTAM). In liaison with Health, Foreign Affairs & PTF COVID-19, we will announce the agreed date, regardless of the ban by Europe, UAE etc. May be earlier than October. 🙏🏽🇳🇬
— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) July 21, 2020
A notice to airmen is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the safety of the flight.
The Nigerian Government has been under pressure from some stakeholders in the aviation industry to start international flight operations especially with the resumption of domestic flight operations earlier in July.
A statement from the Aviation Ministry had earlier stated that passengers looking to travel out of the country will have to wait a bit longer as the dates for the resumption of international flights in and out of the country will be announced later.
Nigeria had suspended international flight operations into the country on March 21 which was one of the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.
