In a few months, the federal government will complete preparations to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Algeria to establish a direct flight route between the two countries.
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, made this statement in his office when he welcomed a delegation from Algeria, which was introduced by the Algerian ambassador to Nigeria.
According to the ministry’s head of press, Odutayo Oluseyi, Keyamo said “Although Nigeria has always had a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with Algeria (BASA), for decades, we have not been taking advantage of the agreement. That agreement actually specifies the routes between Algiers and Lagos.
He explained that in the past weeks the Algerian delegation reached out to Nigeria to reopen the route between Algiers and Lagos to revive the BASA that has not been exploited over the years.
“Today they are here with a memorandum of understanding specifying that although they are in the spirit of opening the skies in Africa, they want to add Abuja to their route and also the second largest city in Algeria to give us an equal place for us to fly. with our local airline and that city is Oran,” he said.
He said more “We have been sure that those who come to us for such an agreement, because one of the main points of this administration is to protect our local airlines; protect the business, and promote the business. We raised the issue of equality with our local operators and they have happily agreed.
“As a government, we are going to quickly look at this MoU from the front, we have no real objection to it but we have a normal bureaucratic process that needs to go through as quickly as possible.
“We are going to organize a day here in Nigeria or an international forum to sign them. We are very happy that Air Algeria is back on Nigerian soil. We want competition, we want the price of air tickets to go down for the benefit of Nigeria. This is a symbiotic relationship; it benefits Algeria and benefits Nigeria.”
The Algerian ambassador, Hocine Latli, while speaking said, “You cannot have a connected partnership if you do not have a direct flight between the two countries, saying today that we are trying to solve this problem of direct flight and the dynamic partnership and restart cooperation between the two countries, especially in the next few years. months.
“Therefore, it is important today that we have reached a common point that the Hon. The Minister of Air and Aerospace has accepted the opening of a direct flight from Algiers to Nigeria.
