Intending international travelers to and from Nigeria will have to wait a little longer as the federal government on Thursday moved the date for the resumption of international flights into and out of the country from the initial August 29, 2020 to September 5, 2020.
Though, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika had recently announced that international flights would commence on August 29, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was also of the view that the date was not cast on stone.
The Federal Government had suspended International flights across the country for about five months as a result of the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at Thursday’s briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, declared that international flights would not resume as earlier announced.
He said September 5, 2020 was picked as the new date for international flights resumption, stressing that there were still issues to be sorted out before allowing international carriers to operate into and out of Nigeria.
“Regret to announce that the international flight resumption earlier scheduled to resume on 29th August has been shifted to 5th September 2020,” the Federal Ministry of Aviation also tweeted.
Sirika had while announcing the resumption of international flight said like it was done during the resumption of domestic flights across the country, the international flights would commence with two major airports.
He named the airports as the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Sirika said emphasis would be placed on the observation of all the safety and technical guidelines as prescribed by global and health authorities, which would be communicated in due course.
