Air Peace: FG shares update on landing slot at Heathrow

1 month ago 1

The Federal Government has reacted to requests for a landing slot for Nigeria's flag carrier, Air Peace, at the Heathrow Airport in the UK
According to the minister of aviation and aerospace development, the federal government will deal with the issues internally
According to a top Air Peace executive, the management of the airline will respond when the time is right

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

In response to requests for a landing slot for Nigeria's flag carrier, Air Peace, at the Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has stated that the Federal Government will handle the problems internally.

Keyamo said this on Tuesday when responding to comment on the most recent letter from the United Kingdom regarding the issue.

Recall how UK airlines continue to land in Nigeria's most practical airports, Lagos and Abuja, while Air Peace was forced to use Gatwick Airport in the UK, which experts compared to Nigeria's Enugu airport.

In order to allay this worry, the minister of aviation wrote to the UK government to express dissatisfaction with the situation and to threaten to prevent aircraft from the foreign country from landing at Nigeria's main airports if they were still unwilling to give Air Peace a landing slot at Heathrow.

How FG reacts

The minister of aviation stated that the government would handle the situation internally because it was a diplomatic problem.

Keyamo stated,

“We prefer dealing with the issues internally for now since it involves our diplomatic relations. Even the letter itself got out there without our permission. You can see that the date is last month. So, at a convenient point, we will let you all know the progress on the issue.”

A senior Air Peace executive who declined to have his name published told Punch that the airline's management will reply when it was time.

“We are not joining issues with anyone. When appropriate, our COO will respond accordingly. We will send a statement regarding it definitely when the time is ripe,” the official stated.