The federal government has promised to reciprocate any treatments meted on Air Peace on its recently launched Lagos-London route.
Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace
development in an interview during the Air Peace Lagos-London inaugural flight
ceremony at the Murtala Muhammed International, Airport, Lagos on Friday said
if any country or airline introduce obstacles to frustrate Air Peace’s
operations, then Nigeria will also introduce theirs.
“If they introduce subtle obstacles to frustrate Air Peace,
then we will introduce ours too. We must reciprocate,” Keyamo said.
Chris Najomo, the acting Director-General Civil Aviation
(ADGCA), said that for indigenous airlines to succeed on any international
routes, it was necessary for the government to adopt the Fly Nigeria Act for
public officials.
Also, he promised that the NCAA would support Air Peace and
other indigenous airlines to succeed on international routes unlike in the
past.
“It is expected. It has been there even when I used to fly
for Arik Air when the airline was going to London. It was there (aeropolitics).
Now, because there is a Nigeria carrier on that route, we have given them 21
frequencies. This is just the beginning.
“It will be there and they will bring all sorts of ways to
be able to cripple them, but I want to use this opportunity to tell the Federal
Government to make a policy that Nigerians, government officials must fly Air
Peace. That is my say here. I want the Federal Government to tell Nigerians
“Fly Air Peace to London.”
The minister earlier stated that with Air Peace inaugural
flight to London, there is passenger comfort especially as regards Nigerian
food served onboard.
According to the minister, beyond passenger comfort, there
will be competitive prices on international route.
“We are seeing that already. Other airlines have opened up
their lower fare tickets to Nigerians now because Air Peace has come in. This
is a very bullish approach to breaking the monopoly on this route. UK has 21
slots into our country every week. British Airways alone has 14 weekly slots.
“So, Air Peace will compete on this level. The most
important one is that there would be no problem of trapped funds because it is
a local company that will not have to repatriate money through the CBN. With
the airlines that come to Nigeria; what we experience is massive repatriation
of funds that puts pressure on the naira because they have to seek for dollars
to repatriate from the sale of tickets.
“So, it eases the pressure on the naira because this is a
Nigerian company that deals in naira. The only problem is that they still have
to go abroad to do their aircraft maintenance. One of our major focus is to
bring in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MROs) into Nigeria. The key to
unlocking this country is to ensure that the facilities come into the county as
quickly as possible,” Keyamo explained.
Allen Onyema, the Chairman, Air Peace, said that Nigerian
airlines required massive government support from the government, especially in
the area of equipment acquisition for operators.
Onyema said that Air Peace was not new to international
operations.
“Air Peace at present operates to China, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa and other regional routes. This is just a six -hour flight. A piece of
cake. Air Peace flies to China on Wednesdays, 14 hours going and 14 hours
coming back, no issues. We have 28 hours of flying in one day and half. Air
Peace flies to India every week. 12 hours going, 13 hours coming back, no
issues.
“Air Peace undertakes 160 hours of flying within this
country everyday for the past seven years without blemish. What is a six-hour
flight? It is a nonstarter.”
Air Peace operated its inaugural flight to London with
Boeing 777-300 aircraft. The route would be serviced daily from Lagos.