Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Aviation through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Director-General, Capt. Musa Nuhu said the resumption of international flight operations in the country is sacrosanct come September 5, 2020.

He disclosed the change in date from the earlier announced August 29th, by the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika during the twice-weekly briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 in Abuja. “Since the announcement by the Honourable Minister of Aviation a few weeks ago that flights will resume anytime from 29th August,  the aviation sector has worked assiduously to be ready for this date and the aviation sector including the airports are ready to resume on the 29th.”

He stated factors necessitating the shift in date. “However, we have other non-aviation logistics we are still working on, mostly to do with the COVID-19 protocols-the test; and also the online platform and we need to get these all ready  and in place so that we have a smooth and efficient resumption of the international flights without difficulties for all the passengers.”

“So for this reason, unfortunately, we have to let you know that the resumption date has been shifted by one week to the 5th of September. The fifth of September which is now a sacrosanct date. The initial announcement was anytime from the 29th. Now we have fixed date 5th of September, to ensure that a sacrosanct date for the resumption of the international flight is in place.”

On guidelines protocols on Covid-19 to be observed by passengers at the airports designated for the restart and the enforcement of the principle of reciprocity, Capt. Nuhu said: “In due course, very shortly, we will be announcing the protocols once these logistics are done, the protocols for the resumption, and we will be giving further details on the principle of reciprocity that we mentioned. We are looking at the list, we are working on that in a couple of days.  Hopefully early next week, we will release this.”