Nigeria states that she will reciprocate and ban airlines from any nation that ban carriers from Nigeria and allow those that allow planes coming from Africa’s largest economy.
Specifically, airlines from the European Union (EU) would not be allowed to fly into Nigeria since the EU had banned flights originating from Nigeria
At the beginning of the third quarter of 2020, the Council of the European began easing lockdown restrictions and opened its doors to 15 countries and Nigeria was not part of it. Those countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay, plus the People’s Republic of China.
During a briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika affirmed the nation’s response to the situation. This comes as Nigeria plans resumption for International flight from the end of August.
The Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Musa Nuhu, who represented the minister said the decision was taken in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“So, as we open our airspace, we are going to apply the issue of reciprocity to those (EU) countries.”
Another mention of the minister is that airlines would be informed of new guidelines for the operations as flight resumes. This is being communicated to he airlines already. Also, the new protocols would be announced to the public before international flights resumption of August the 29, 2020.
Only Lagos and Abuja would be permitted to start international flight to facilitate tracking and ensuring COVID-19 guidelines are implemented.