The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has started issuing permits to domestic airlines to restart operations, ahead of the resumption of commercial flights on Wednesday July 8, Daily Trust has learnt.
However, not all the domestic scheduled carriers have received approval, according to findings on Saturday.
The Federal Government had announced July 8 for the resumption of flights beginning with Lagos and Abuja airports.
On July 11, three more airports including Port Harcourt Airport, Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, Kano and Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, while others would follow on July 15 as announced by the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika last week.
The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu had at the last stakeholders’ meeting last Thursday said airlines that failed to meet the requirements for restarting operations would not resume on Wednesday.
He explained that the authority would not compromise safety in any form in the interest of passengers and protection of the integrity and credibility of the industry.
So far, not all the eight domestic airlines operating scheduled commercial flights have been granted approval as at Sunday.
However, others who have not been granted approval might fill the gaps noticeable in their restart plan before Wednesday, a source told our correspondent yesterday.
Meanwhile, Arik Air, on Saturday, said it would resume flights on Wednesday with three daily flights from Lagos to Abuja.
The airline will be operating three daily flights from Lagos to Abuja in the first phase of the restart while Port Harcourt will be added to the schedule from Saturday, July 11, 2020 when the Airport reopens, the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
