Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Femi Falana has called on the Federal Government to suspend British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic operations into Nigeria pending the granting of  Nigeria’s Air Peace approval to operate the Lagos-London route in line with the Bilateral Air Services Agreement(BASA) signed between Nigeria and United Kingdom.
He made the call at the just concluded Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) Conference in Abuja.
Falana stated that BASA allows for reciprocity of flight operations on the route by designated airlines of both countries in line with the agreement signed by both countries and that it was out of place and unfair for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to be allowed to continue flying into Nigeria without any Nigerian airline flying to London in return.
He contended that Air Peace has proven it has the capacity to operate on international routes, adding that the airline currently flies to China, Israel, India and South Africa among others using modern aircraft comparable to those of its foreign competitors.
Falana submitted that “If Air Peace is not allowed to fly to London, then British Airways and Virgin Atlantic should be stopped from flying to Nigeria “.
Air Peace, argued, has a fleet of modern long-haul and regional aircraft that can match those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.
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