Efforts by the Federal Government to airlift stranded Nigerians
in Canada has been dogged with controversies following disagreement
among Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs and the High
Commission of Canada on the choice of carrier to be engaged in the
exercise, The Nation has learnt.
Investigations by The Nation revealed the Canadian High
Comission was delaying the evacuation of Nigerians from the North
Africa country by deferring flight rights for an indigenous carrier
– Air Peace in covert moves to pave the way for Ethiopian Airlines,
which has been positioned to operate the air lift at a higher
fare.
The Federal Government last week designated Air Peace to operate
the evacuation flight Nigerians stranded in Canada from Toronto and
Calgary.
Informed source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed
the Canada High Commission opened talks with Ethiopia Airlines,
which has been airlifting Canadian citizens from different parts of
Africa to Canada to deny a Nigerian carrier the opportunity to
airlift its citizens.
Irked over the subtle moves to pave the way for Ethiopian
Airlines, the Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs,
investigations revealed are insisting the Nigerian carrier has to
operate the flight in tandem with its new position that all
evacuation flights must be conducted by Nigerian carriers.
A document sourced from the Canada High Commission directed that
passengers should pay $2, 500 to Ethiopian Airlines while Air Peace
charged $1, 134.
319 passengers have paid to the Nigerian airline, which has
concluded plans to operate full flight to the North American
country.
The directive from the Canada High Commission asked the would-be
passengers to pay for Flight ET3900 from Lagos to Addis-Ababa that
would depart from Lagos by 1:00 pm Nigerian time on May 18,
2020.
The directive asked the passengers to use the booking code:
”LOSYYZ,” valid only for May 15, 2020.
The delay in allowing Air Peace, an indigenous airline to
conduct the evacuation flight, has upset officials in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and other Nigerians who have been monitoring the
proceedings since last week.
Some of the Nigerians, who have booked Air Peace for the flight,
were already complaining about the insistence of the Canada High
Commission to choose a foreign airline when a Nigerian carrier can
carry out the evacuation exercise successfully, as it had done in
the past.
Shocked at the decision of Canada High Commission, an official
of the Nigerian carrier said that Air Peace has successfully flown
to 40 countries, including Canada, the United States, the United
Kingdom, noting it was the airline that evacuated Israeli citizens
from Nigeria late March.
“We have done many international flights, including landing in
Canada. We have made 19 flights to the United States of America
since 2014.
“We have flown to Tel-Aviv several times and in March we
evacuated over 200 Israelis from Nigeria back during this COVID-19
lockdown.
“We have scheduled flight operations to United Arab Emirates. We
have also flown to UK, Ireland, China, Turkey, Germany, Iceland,
Switzerland and other countries
“We have IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification and
we are member of IATA. We have also evacuated Nigerians from South
Africa during the Xenophobia attack of Africans there. We are
grateful to the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation for
all the support it is giving Air Peace and other ingenious
carriers,” the Air Peace official said.
Reacting to the incident, former Director General of the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Benedict Adeyileka,
described the action of the Canada High Commission as political and
urged the Federal Government to stand firmly on its position that a
Nigerian carrier should conduct the airlift.
“I don’t agree with what is happening. It is very political and
Ethiopian Airlines is playing a dangerous game. Ethiopian has new
aircraft but it was Boeing 767 it deployed to airlift Nigerians
from the US and some of the passengers complained, even as they
paid higher fares to the airline. But Air Peace is deploying Boeing
777 for the evacuation.
“I am a nationalist to the core. Anything Nigerian is good
enough as long as it is qualified to carry out the operation and
Air Peace has international operation experience. I insist that the
Nigerian government should put its foot down on this. Nigerian
carriers should not be stopped from conducting international
operations,” he said.
Source: https://thenationonlineng.net/
Efforts by the Federal Government to airlift stranded Nigerians
in Canada has been dogged with controversies following disagreement
among Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs and the High
Commission of Canada on the choice of carrier to be engaged in the
exercise, The Nation has learnt.
Investigations by The Nation revealed the Canadian High
Comission was delaying the evacuation of Nigerians from the North
Africa country by deferring flight rights for an indigenous carrier
– Air Peace in covert moves to pave the way for Ethiopian Airlines,
which has been positioned to operate the air lift at a higher
fare.
The Federal Government last week designated Air Peace to operate
the evacuation flight Nigerians stranded in Canada from Toronto and
Calgary.
Informed source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed
the Canada High Commission opened talks with Ethiopia Airlines,
which has been airlifting Canadian citizens from different parts of
Africa to Canada to deny a Nigerian carrier the opportunity to
airlift its citizens.
Irked over the subtle moves to pave the way for Ethiopian
Airlines, the Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs,
investigations revealed are insisting the Nigerian carrier has to
operate the flight in tandem with its new position that all
evacuation flights must be conducted by Nigerian carriers.
A document sourced from the Canada High Commission directed that
passengers should pay $2, 500 to Ethiopian Airlines while Air Peace
charged $1, 134.
319 passengers have paid to the Nigerian airline, which has
concluded plans to operate full flight to the North American
country.
The directive from the Canada High Commission asked the would-be
passengers to pay for Flight ET3900 from Lagos to Addis-Ababa that
would depart from Lagos by 1:00 pm Nigerian time on May 18,
2020.
The directive asked the passengers to use the booking code:
”LOSYYZ,” valid only for May 15, 2020.
The delay in allowing Air Peace, an indigenous airline to
conduct the evacuation flight, has upset officials in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and other Nigerians who have been monitoring the
proceedings since last week.
Some of the Nigerians, who have booked Air Peace for the flight,
were already complaining about the insistence of the Canada High
Commission to choose a foreign airline when a Nigerian carrier can
carry out the evacuation exercise successfully, as it had done in
the past.
Shocked at the decision of Canada High Commission, an official
of the Nigerian carrier said that Air Peace has successfully flown
to 40 countries, including Canada, the United States, the United
Kingdom, noting it was the airline that evacuated Israeli citizens
from Nigeria late March.
“We have done many international flights, including landing in
Canada. We have made 19 flights to the United States of America
since 2014.
“We have flown to Tel-Aviv several times and in March we
evacuated over 200 Israelis from Nigeria back during this COVID-19
lockdown.
“We have scheduled flight operations to United Arab Emirates. We
have also flown to UK, Ireland, China, Turkey, Germany, Iceland,
Switzerland and other countries
“We have IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification and
we are member of IATA. We have also evacuated Nigerians from South
Africa during the Xenophobia attack of Africans there. We are
grateful to the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation for
all the support it is giving Air Peace and other ingenious
carriers,” the Air Peace official said.
Reacting to the incident, former Director General of the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Benedict Adeyileka,
described the action of the Canada High Commission as political and
urged the Federal Government to stand firmly on its position that a
Nigerian carrier should conduct the airlift.
“I don’t agree with what is happening. It is very political and
Ethiopian Airlines is playing a dangerous game. Ethiopian has new
aircraft but it was Boeing 767 it deployed to airlift Nigerians
from the US and some of the passengers complained, even as they
paid higher fares to the airline. But Air Peace is deploying Boeing
777 for the evacuation.
“I am a nationalist to the core. Anything Nigerian is good
enough as long as it is qualified to carry out the operation and
Air Peace has international operation experience. I insist that the
Nigerian government should put its foot down on this. Nigerian
carriers should not be stopped from conducting international
operations,” he said.
Source: https://thenationonlineng.net/