The Federal government has announced to reopen Nigeria’s airspace for international travel on August 29.
This was disclosed via a series of tweets by Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, on Monday.
He said the reopening procedure for international flights would be similar to operations of domestic flights in Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.
He tweeted: “Glad to announce the resumption of international flights from the 29th of August, 2020. Beginning with Lagos and Abuja as we did with the domestic flight resumption.
“Protocols and procedures will be announced in due course. We thank you for your patience.”
Domestic flight operations had restarted across the country since July 8, with Lagos and Abuja airports being the first to reopen, while Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Maiduguri airports reopened on July 11.
Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, on August 6 had asked airline operators to begin the process for the resumption of international flights.
To ensure that the COVID-19 protocol are not flouted, Aliyu had said passengers would have to be at the airport three hours before departure to give time for the series of necessary checks.
“We have modified the advice with the regards to arrival for flights: Passengers arriving at the airports for domestic flights advice to arrive at least one and a half hours before their flight, and three hours before international flights where these restart,” he said at the time.
Nigeria closed its airspace to international travel on March 23, 2020, to forestall the spread of the coronavirus.
