Vice President Kashim Shettima has pledged to engage with key stakeholders to address the bureaucratic challenges preventing Nigerian airline, Air Peace from securing landing rights at Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world by passenger traffic.
“It is diplomacy. There is no quarrel, and the Vice President has vowed to meet with his colleagues (on the matter),” founder and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace Limited, Allen Onyema, told State House Correspondents after a meeting between Shettima and Airline Operators of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, according to The Punch.
It was earlier reported that Air Peace struggled to secure a landing slot at Heathrow Airport, located just 45 minutes from central London.
Despite Heathrow being the UK’s primary airport, the airline currently operates from Gatwick Airport, which is considered a secondary airport.
In a letter dated August 1, 2024, and addressed to Louise Haigh, the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, warned that if Air Peace is not allocated a space at London Heathrow, Nigeria will be forced to “reciprocate” by denying British Airways and Virgin Atlantic slots at its Lagos and Abuja airports.
Nigeria and the UK are bound by a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement which facilitates the sharing of Civil Aviation Certifications between the two countries.
The BASA outlines obligations and cooperation methods to prevent unnecessary duplication of evaluations and streamline the certification of aeronautical products.
This agreement also enables airport managers to grant equal landing privileges to aircraft from member countries.
However, Airport Coordination Limited, the independent authority overseeing slot allocation in the UK, reported that Air Peace missed two crucial deadlines in its requests for landing slots.
ACL stated that the airline failed to submit its slot requests on time for the Northern Summer 2024 and Northern Winter 2024 scheduling seasons.
But Onyema said, “The Vice President is worried that Nigerian airlines are not being given easy access into some choice airports. And the Vice President has also vowed to meet with his colleagues out there.
“It is diplomacy. There is no quarrel. Yes, we are not going to fight. The Vice President has taken it upon himself to make sure that Nigerian airlines are given their dues abroad.”
