By Uche Amunike
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has announced, Wednesday, that Emirates Airline is in discussions with several Nigerian carriers on how to establish code-share agreements.
He made this announcement immediately after his meeting with Emirates officials after he arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Wednesday.
Codeshare is an interline partnership that makes it possible for one carrier market service to place its code on another carrier’s flights. This will make it possible for carriers to use the opportunity to provide services to destinations that are not in their original route structure.
The ‘code share’ agreement is common in the international aviation sector. It makes it possible for the originating airline and the supporting airline to agree on the formula for sharing the ticket cost.
According to Minister Festus Keyamo, the aviation ministry has secured some code sharing agreements for local operators, while also agreeing with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that domestic airlines must have the right of first refusal during the code-share arrangement.
His words: ‘There would be a lot of code sharing in this respect. As I speak with you, Emirates is speaking to many of our local operators now for the benefit of our local aviation industry.’
‘When Emirates suspended operations, some airlines reaped the benefits. Many foreign airlines increased their frequencies to Nigeria and many increased their prices because seats and flights were not available.’
‘We fought for this because Dubai in particular is a major hub of the world. It links virtually every country of the world. I have not seen any major country that is not linked to Dubai. So, for Nigerian travellers, it is easy to access any part of the world by simply traveling to Dubai and connecting to that country,’ Keyamo said.
He further stated that there will be other options for Nigerian travelers and that when the federal government signed the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA), with the UAE it was also for the purpose of securing the route for local operators.
He continued: ‘Our agreement with UAE is that domestic airlines can fly into any destination in UAE and vice versa. First of all, we know that we have variety of choices now. We have more competition on different international routes now. This is what it is all about; ensuring healthy competition which leads to competitive prices for the benefit of the Nigerian people.’
He lauded President Bola Tinubu for the recent developments being witnessed in the aviation sector, were made possible by his him.
Hear him: ‘When the president came into office he made it clear that he would like to restore relationship with most of Nigeria’s major partners and companies around the world. We identified UAE as a major partner and company that we should restore relationship with’
‘The relationship went down hill with the suspension of visas and flights. For Nigerians, it was damaging because we know that Nigerians have a lot of investments in the UAE. So it was a fight for the people of Nigeria and I’m sure the people are happy that we are restoring relationships and we have signed a new BASA.
He gave his reassurances that the relationship between the UAE and Nigeria will be redefined and therefore healthier for the benefit of the Nigerian people.
