Amidst calls for Nigeria to review and/or balance its Bilateral Air Services Agreements( BASA), legal luminary Femi Falana (SAN) has called for the suspension of flight operations into Nigeria by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic following lack of reciprocity.
The learned activist said the suspension should be until such a time when Nigeria’s Air Peace is allowed to also fly on the Lagos-London route in accordance with the provisions of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement(BASA) signed by Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
He made the comments 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 observed 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, therefore, 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 “.
Various takes by other professionals within the industry although divergent have pointed out Nigeria still getting the short end of the stick in the BASA.
