NIGERIA: British Airways Resumes Flight To Nigeria

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jul 28 1998 (IPS) - Nigeria’s new open-door policy has charmed foreign firms, prompting British Airways, which suspended flights to Nigeria a year ago, and the Nigerian government to mend their fences to allow the carrier to resume flying to the West African country.

Nigeria’s new military leader, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, who took over following the death of General Sani Abacha on Jun. 7, ordered the lifting of the ban this week.

The links were cut on May 15, 1997, when Britain, citing security reasons, imposed a blanket ban on all flights originating from Nigeria.

Immediately, Nigeria retaliated by banning all British flights into the West African country. Now, British Airways and Nigeria Airways will begin flying their old routes to the delight of frequent flyers here.

Nigeria Airways says it will resume flights on the lucrative route in August. “The national carrier will operate four flights a week each direct from Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. We are doing everything possible to ensure we are in a competitive position on that route,” says Nigeria Airways spokesman Chris Aligbe.

He says passengers, who had suffered as a result of the closure of the Lagos-London route, would be happy with the lifting of the ban.

“Now we don’t have to go round the world to get to London which is just about six hours flight. I am very happy at the development. One can now fly direct to London or Lagos instead of connecting flights which takes a whole day,” says Olu Akande, who always flies British Airways.

During the ban, passengers were forced to connect flights from different points in Europe before getting to London or Lagos, usually at some extra costs.

However, the lifting of the ban may not go down well with foreign airlines operating in Nigeria who fear a loss of passengers on their flights.

“We will now face stiff competition from the British Airways and the Nigerian Airways on resumption of regular services between London and the four points in Nigeria,” one foreign airline staff member, who refused to be named, told IPS this week.

Before the ban, British Airways was operating 10 weekly flights out of the country’s airports which amounted to 133 flights between January and May 25, 1997. The Nigeria Aviation Ministry statistics show the airline carried 33,917 passengers during the period.

Sixteen other foreign airlines which operated in the West African country during the same period made a total of 3,109 flights and carried 310,595 passengers.

Nigeria Airways and two private airlines, which operate international flights, made only 294 flights with 13,835 passengers in the same period.

The large number of passengers using the British Airways flights between Nigeria and Britain and the huge loss by the British Airways during the ban, has made officials of British Airways eager to resume flights between London and Lagos.

British Airways director for Africa and Middle East, David Noyes, welcomed the lifting of the ban. “We are delighted to be resuming our operations to Nigeria. This is a very important market for us. We are fully committed to West Africa and we look forward to welcoming our valuable customers back to the airline,” he said in a statement made available to IPS here this week.