Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
In a significant milestone for the aviation industry, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FICArb UK, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria has signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with Canadian Authorities, at the Ministry’s headquarters, Abuja, today. This was contained in a statement signed by Odutayo Oluseyi, Head, Press, and Public Relations.
Keyamo explained that the agreement was not a full Bilateral agreement but a code – share which is an agreement where two or more airlines market and sell seats on flights operated by another airline, allowing passengers to travel on flights under a different airline’s code. He stated that Nigeria will designate airline operators to enhance this agreement.
The Minister thanked Canadian authorities stating that his counterpart in Canada had signed part of the bilateral agreement, but in order to save cost, he is signing the agreement in Nigeria. He said that the agreement will go a long way to further strengthen the relationship between Canada and Nigeria.
Permanent secretary Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, mni thanked the Honourable Minister of Aviation for his proactiveness and tireless dedication in advancing the course of Nigeria’s aviation industry.
Kana, while welcoming the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, stated that Nigeria has the highest economic partnership in Africa with Canada noting that the Bilateral Air Services Agreement will be beneficial to both countries.
In his response, the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Pasquale Salvaggio, thanked Nigeria government. He said it is his pleasure to witness the signing of the BASA and expressed the Canadian government readiness to always work with Nigeria in strengthening bilateral agreements
Code-share allows greater access to cities through a given airline’s network without having to offer extra flights and makes connections simpler by allowing single bookings across multiple flights and airlines. Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of airline alliances.
END
