airports.
In a press release by the SA (Media) to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, Emirates and Etihad Airlines have not indicated any interest to operate into the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, however, Emirates expressed interest on the Abuja route and approval, via a Letter from the Honourable Minister dated February 14th, 2013 was conveyed to the airline.
The statement reads: “Andrew J Parker, Senior Vice President, Public, International, Industry and Environment Affairs for Emirates acknowledged receipt and expressed gratitude for the approval. He however said the airline has not yet settled on a date to commence the Abuja operations and I take the liberty to quote an instructive paragraph from the Acknowledgement Letter. “Abuja is on our radar, but we do not as yet have a firm date for operation there. We are monitoring the fuel price movements and market conditions and at an opportune time we would come up with a deployment plan for Abuja”, Parker wrote.
“With regard to Turkish Airlines, a Letter conveying the Minister’s approval for the airline to operate the Kano route was dated February 26th, 2013. On the 20th of March, 2013, the airline’s General Manager, Nigeria, Ali Bulut in a Letter to the Honourable Minister, acknowledged the approval granted the airline. Details on when the airline would commence operations on the route are currently being worked out between officials of the Ministry and Turkish Airlines”.
He however added for whether or not Emirates or Etihad airlines had applied to operate either into MAKIA, Kano or Abuja, subsisting Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) between Nigeria and the UAE already grants them landing rights to the two destinations.
He said all the airline need to do is to apply for approval to commence operations on the routes but neither of the two airlines has indicated any interest to operate into the two destinations.
Here is the letter Emirates airline directed to the Minister Decline Abuja EK ltr 20 Mar13 re Abuja
