The federal government has said that there is no timeframe for the resumption of flights to Dubai and other parts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Politics Nigeria reported that presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, announced a lift of the visa ban imposed on Nigerian travellers after President Bola Tinubu met with Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday.
While the Middle East country’s news agency was silent on the visa ban issue, Ngelale also declared that Emirates and Etihad airlines would resume flight activities to Nigeria with immediate effect.
But speaking in Abuja on Thursday, Aviation minister, Festus Keyamo, said the terms of agreements were being finalised.
Keyamo maintained that there was no “idle airplane” for flight activities to resume.
“We are beginning to work out all the tiny details. I have met with Emirate before I left UAE, and we are working out the details. We cannot say the time frame. Kicking off an airline operation again on a route, does not mean you will go and grab one empty plane sitting in a place,” Keyamo said at the Aviation Africa Summit
“There is no idle plane sitting anywhere, they have to reschedule their flights and restart their routes again. All kinds of permission will be taken from local authorities and of course, I made the point in speaking with them and I made it clear that they will have to give our airlines reciprocal rights under our Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs).
“That is the point I insisted on, and they did say that any spot we need, they will give us as much as we give them those spots within Nigeria,” he added.
