Air Peace Rejects UK Govt’s Offer To Fly To Gatwick, Insists On Heathrow Airport

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema has rejected the offer by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to run flight operations to Gatwick Airport or Stansted Airport.

Allen said he wants the UK authority to reciprocate Nigeria’s gesture of allowing it use the two primary airports in the country based on the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA)

UK flag carrier, British Airways has flight slots at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport which are the two primary airports in the country.

The Air Peace boss said the airline has waited for seven years to get approval from the UK CAA and wants a slot at the Heathrow Airport, London.

London Heathrow handles over 60 million international passengers annually and is the largest airport in the UK.

Onyema said in an interview monitored by THE WHISTLER on Arise TV, “There is a deliberate stigmatization of the country. There is deliberate refusal of some of these foreign countries to allow Nigerian airlines to access their own airspace. They do that together with unscrupulous Nigerian government officials.

“Air Peace has gotten the Third Country Operators (UK- Part TCO) approved. We have passed the audit and the next thing is for us to get the flight operations permit. The most important thing is the TCO UK and we passed the audit.

“It took seven years for them to come and do the audit and you don’t blame them. Now we have got the approval. The next thing is slot and they are telling us to go to Stansted or take Gatwick. I’m not going to Stansted or Gatwick. You come to the primary airport in Nigeria and by BASA, you enjoy the two primary airports. So, you will give me your own primary airport. It must be Heathrow or nothing. We waited seven years and we must be there.”

He said the issue of multiple designations and multiple frequencies given to foreign airlines is unhelpful when they do not reciprocate Nigeria’s magnanimity.

The Air Peace boss said, “If Nigeria wants to come out of the doldrums of the dollar issue and the foreign reserves, they need to address the issue of multiple frequencies given to foreign airlines in this country.

“If Nigeria is flying to London, flying to the United States and every part of the world, the kind of foreign exchange we will attract to this country will be unbelievable.”