The Federal Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Algeria for the commencement of direct flights between the two countries.The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, while receiving the Algeria delegation yesterday in Abuja, noted that although Nigeria has always had a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with (BASA) Algeria for decades, they have however, not taken advantage of the agreement.

While mentioning that the agreement is a symbiotic relationship, he said it was to specify the route, which is going to be between Algeria and Lagos.

The minister revealed that the Algeria delegation had reached out to Nigeria for the reopening of the route between Algiers and Lagos to revive the BASA that hadn’t been taken advantage of over the years.

He said in the spirit of opening up African Sky, the plan of the Algeria government was to add Abuja to their route while they reciprocate for Nigeria to fly to Oran, one of the largest city in their country, saying the agreement will be finalised in the coming weeks

Keyamo stated that one of the focal points of the current administration is to protect local airline operators and their businesses, which was why they insisted on reciprocity for our local operators, which they have gladly acceded to.

He said: “We are very happy to have Air Algeria back on the soil of Nigeria. We want competition; we want the price of air tickets to go down for the benefit of Nigeria. This is a symbiotic relationship; it is beneficial to Algeria and to Nigeria.”

Ambassador of Algeria, Hocine Latli, who led the delegation said “you can’t have a tied partnership if you do not have a direct flight between the two countries, saying today we are trying to solve this problem of direct flight and restart the dynamic partnership and cooperation between the two countries, especially in the next few months”

“So, it is important today that we have reached a common point that the Hon Minister of aviation and Aerospace has accepted the opening of direct flight from Algiers to Nigeria,” he stated.

In another development, the minister has been conferred with a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) by the President of the institute, Barrister Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro, who led members of the institution to his office. The Minister was equally invited to the institute’s conference sometime in November this year.

In acceptance, the minister said that CILT was one institute that he had been admiring from a distance and the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development is willing to partner with the institute for safety and infrastructure development.