FG approves resumption of Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, and Qatar Airways for flight operations

By Monalisa Agbata

The Federal Government has approved the resumption of Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, and Qatar Airways for flight operations in Nigeria.

This was made known on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, through his Twitter account.

He tweeted, “We are working with Ministry of Health, CACOVID & The PTF to open Kano, Port Harcourt & possibly Enugu airports before the end of the year. Also Lufthansa, Air France/KLM has been given go ahead to resume. Qatar Airways is approved to start Abuja. Thank you for your patience.”

The Minister explained that following the gradual ease of the COVID-19 lockdown, he is discussing with the Ministry of Health, CACOVID, and the Presidential Task force to open Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu airports.

This news came on the backdrop of major ground handling companies in Nigeria reporting a revenue decline of up to 20%, following published results in the first nine months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 induced lockdowns and travel restrictions.

This declining financial trend led some of the companies to consider job cuts, other running cost reduction measures in a bid to survive.