Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has sent a formal letter to the aviation handlers in the United Kingdom asking landing slots for Air Peace at Heathrow, the UK’s preferred airport. These demands generated conversations within the sector, AKINLOTAN OLASUNKANMI x-rays the issue

Reports on the protest letter that Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, wrote to his British colleague have been all over the media. The purpose of the letter was to formally protest the UK airport authority’s denial of Nigerian Air Peace’s request to land at Heathrow Airport.

Keyamo cautioned Louise Haigh, the UK Secretary of State for Transport, in a letter dated August 1, 2024, that if Air Peace was not given a

Air Peace now operates out of Gatwick Airport, a minor airport, even though Heathrow is the main airport in the United Kingdom.

Heathrow Airport in the UK might be compared to Murtala Muhammed Airport in Nigeria, Gatwick Airport in the UK to Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Nigeria, and Enugu International Airport in the UK to Lagos Airport.

DAILY PULSE has discovered that Air Peace’s attempts to secure a slot at Heathrow, which is closer to the centre of London, have been unsuccessful.

In the meanwhile, Nigeria and the UK are parties to a bilateral aviation safety agreement that calls for the sharing of civil aviation certifications between the two nations.

The Bilateral Aviation Safety accord is the name of this accord.

In order to prevent needless duplication of review and to make it easier for the civil aviation authorities to certify aeronautical items, a BASA lays down the responsibilities and procedures for collaboration between the agencies.

Thus, a BASA upholds the highest standards of aviation safety while promoting trade in aircraft and related goods.

Airport managers are also permitted by this agreement to grant aircraft from member nations similar landing privileges inside their jurisdiction.

However, several industry participants believed that specific airports were not the focus of the Nigeria-UK BASA agreement, but rather selected metropolitan destinations.

The stakeholder stated that Heathrow cannot be specifically included in the agreement since it is not under the Department of Transport’s jurisdiction and because the UK government does not participate in the distribution of airport slots.

They suggested that Air Peace handle the matter on its own and refrain from taking it further.

The independent body in charge of assigning slots in the UK, Airport Coordination Limited, revealed that Air Peace had overlooked two important deadlines when seeking landing slots, adding a new twist to the diplomatic spat between the two nations.

Air Peace was accused by the company of not submitting its slot requests for the Northern Summer 2024 and Northern Winter 2024 scheduling seasons in a timely manner.

The slot allocator revealed the missed deadlines, which have complicated matters further and given rise to legitimate worries about the airline’s capacity to establish a presence at one of the busiest airports in the world.

An airline executive, who wished to remain anonymous due to the delicate diplomatic situation at hand, informed our correspondent that the airline was not pleased with the UK government’s decision to deny permission for an Air Peace plane to land at Heathrow.

“It is important to note that we have done due diligence in ensuring that we get a slot, but they were claiming the crowd was too much for them,” he said, noting that the airline would not want to get involved in the situation. Only for us to find out later on that they said we weren’t eligible for two seasons. The same you who said at first that there weren’t any slots because of the crowd?

As I mentioned before,

Nevertheless, despite the UK’s aviation authorities’ insistence, the Nigerian government has persisted in permitting UK flag bearers to arrive at Nigeria’s main airports.

Through his letter, Keyamo responded to the development by expressing his displeasure with it.

According to a portion of the diplomatic document that was released to the media, Air Peace has been flying into Heathrow, its first choice, since March 2024 due to “the consistent denial of slot” by the UK slot office on the Nigeria-London route.

“The airline had previously attempted repeatedly to fly from Lagos to Heathrow Airport but was refused permission; instead, it was only allowed to travel from Lagos to Gatwick Airport.

“After the Nigerian government gave the airline permission to operate the Abuja-London route, the company applied for a slot at London Heathrow Airport with the intention of starting flights in November 2024, which is the IATA Winter Season. It is really discouraging that the airline has not heard back favourably from the slot office as of yet.

He reminded the UK that there were no restrictions on British Airways’ or Virgin Atlantic’s ability to fly into Nigeria’s main airports, Lagos and Abuja.

Since 1936, British Airways has operated flights into Lagos.

Because of this, Nigerian designated carriers must benefit from the same reciprocity as do British carriers. Slot distribution to Nigerian carriers is a constant source of contention, which is extremely unfair on the part of the British authorities and a disgrace to the Nigerian government and the country at large. Keyamo added, “We feel deceived by the British authorities for not returning the benevolent gesture of the Nigerian State and its people.

The minister instructed the UK airport authority to refrain from using the slot allocation dispute as a pretext to dispute the existence of a bilateral air services agreement, which is rooted in the reciprocity principle, between Nigeria and the UK.

The minister’s threat was followed by a junior Air Peace employee who told our correspondent, “Obviously, the management is concerned by this development between the UK and Nigerian governments, but we are only taking solace in the possibility that the matter may be resolved before the deadline given.” The employee did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak for the company.

Additionally, when our journalist chatted with Adetutu Otuyalu, the Regional Country Manager for Nigeria and Ghana at British Airways, she abruptly stopped replying to the questions.

Dr. Kingsley Nwokoma, President of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, supported Keyamo, arguing that since UK airlines were allowed to use Nigeria’s premier airports, they ought to be granted the same right.

He also demanded that the issue be resolved with greater diplomacy.

“Since we lack a national carrier, our current national flag carrier should be permitted to fly to their own best airports as well if they are enjoying our best airport,” he said.

“This is not a difficult task. Parties to BASA include the UK and Nigeria. Thus, why can’t our flag carrier make a landing at their top airport?

“Air Peace and the UAE had a previous incident, and once the Nigerian government spoke with them, the matter was settled.