The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the planned resumption of domestic flights tentatively scheduled for Sunday, citing the continued restriction on interstate movements as reason.
The agency said there was no way domestic airlines could resume operations if people would not be able to move freely from one state to another.
The Senate also urged the federal government not to reopen five out of the airports shut in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, saying it will be suicidal to do so.
At a press briefing thursday in Abuja by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, said NCAA would only commence local flights when it was safe to do so.
Sirika, represented by the Director General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, added that to force the resumption of flights when the agency is least prepared, could lead to a dangerous outcome for the industry, aside from enabling the spike in COVID-19 infections.
”To do otherwise, will be disastrous for us. If we open the flight when we are not ready and we are guilty of spreading coronavirus, God forbid, we have any incident, I believe the governors will come hard on us and it is going to be counter-productive and even will be disastrous for the industry,” he said.
According to him, NCAA will need more time to ensure that it is ready to start work.
He explained that the civil aviation regulator recently had a virtual meeting, attended by five stakeholders, to consider feedbacks from the industry and to respond to their concerns.
He added that the NCAA has been receiving inputs from international organisations such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which ensures the standards and recommended practices for the aviation industry.
”The airports also have their high level task force on COVID-19, which also played a significant part. We have to adopt all this and you can be rest assured that the NCAA will only give the go-ahead when we are ready, nothing before then,” he added.
According to him, the resumption of domestic flights may now be towards the end of June.
Also speaking yesterday at Webinar session tagged, ‘Nigeria’s Aviation Industry: Changing Times, Changing Strategies’, organised by the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Nuhu, who was represented by the Director of consumer Protection, NCAA, Adamu Abdullahi, said there would not be resumption of domestic flights without the relaxation of the interstate lockdown.
