Nigerian travellers who desire to travel across Europe, America and other continents now have more options following the approval of Lufthansa, Air France and KLM by the Federal Government to resume flight operations into Nigeria.
Hadi Sirika, Nigeria’s minister of aviation, announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the airlines have been granted approval to resume operations into the country.
“Lufthansa, Air France and KLM have been given the go ahead to resume. Qatar Airways is approved to start Abuja,” Sirika tweeted via his handle @hadisirika.
Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Rwanair, Air Namibia and Royal Air Maroc had been denied entry into Nigeria since the resumption of international flights in September 2020 as a result of the government’s implementation of its reciprocity policy.
Before the ban was lifted, travellers had complained that they had limited number of airlines to choose from and some travellers were forced to take longer routes using the available airlines which were inconvenient for them.
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“This is a good development. With this development, travellers now have more choices and will be able to travel with an airline that offers the best connectivity within a limited timeframe,” said Chika Ike, a traveller.
Following the country’s implementation of the principle of reciprocity, Sirika had announced that only countries that allow airlines from Nigeria to fly into their countries would be granted permits for their airlines to operate into Nigeria.
“The principle of reciprocity would be applied. I bet you the conditions you give Nigerians who travel to your country – we will apply the same thing,” Sirika had stated.
“If you ban us from coming to your country, the same will apply the other way; we just hope for a level-playing field on the issue of reciprocity.”
