By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Federal Government has pledged to give more support to local airline operators to create an enabling environment and ease of operations.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, Festus Keyamo, made this pledge while presenting his master card at the ministerial news briefing on the administration of President Bola Tinubu’s sectoral update.
The Minister said the government would support and empower all local airline operators, as it did with Air Peace, to enable them to compete with other international airlines.
According to him, the government would also facilitate the acquisition of aircraft under dry lease agreement, which he said was cheaper compared with a wet lease.
Keyamo affirmed that the government had planned to review the nation’s Bilateral Air Service Agreements, BASA, to favour local operators.
He said the government was making conscious and gradual efforts towards embracing eco-friendly practices and green technologies in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation’s long-term global aspirational goal of net-zero carbon emissions in the aviation sector.
“We are rehabilitating some Airports/Airstrips, enhancing collaboration with state governments to improve state airport infrastructure and training and re-training aviation professionals (accident investigators, pilots, and air traffic controllers),“ he added.
