The Federal Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Algeria for the commencement of direct flights between the two countries.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, while receiving the Algeria delegation in Abuja, noted that although Nigeria has always had a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with (BASA) Algeria for decades, they have however, not taken advantage of the agreement.
While mentioning that the agreement is a symbiotic relationship, he said it was to specify the route, which is going to be between Algeria and Lagos.
The minister revealed that the Algeria delegation had reached out to Nigeria for the reopening of the route between Algiers and Lagos to revive the BASA that hadn’t been taken advantage of over the years.
He said in the spirit of opening up African Sky, the Algeria government planned to add Abuja to their route while they reciprocate for Nigeria to fly to Oran, one of the largest city in their country, saying the agreement will be finalised in the coming weeks
Keyamo stated that one of the focal points of the current administration is to protect local airline operators and their businesses, which was why they insisted on reciprocity for our local operators, which they have gladly acceded to.
He said: “We are very happy to have Air Algeria back on the soil of Nigeria. We want competition; we want the price of air tickets to go down for the benefit of Nigeria. This is a symbiotic relationship; it is beneficial to Algeria and to Nigeria.”
Guardian