The Nigerian government on Sunday impounded a flight owned by a UK company being used to run commercial trips under the guise of humanitarian services despite an existing ban on all commercial air travels in the country.
The minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika in a tweet revealed that the company, Flair Aviation is a UK-registered company approved for humanitarian operations was caught conduction commercial flight.
He noted that the craft has been impounded and the crew under interrogation.
“Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights,” Nigeria’s aviation minister Hadi Sirika tweeted.
“The craft is impounded, (the) crew are being interrogated.”
Expressing disappointment in the order flouted by the UK aviation company, Sirika said the action was ‘callous’.
He disclosed that “there shall be maximum penalty” for the aviation company’s decision to run commercial flights in Nigeria and that it is a “wrong time to try our resolve.”
COVID-19. Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights. This is callous! The craft is impounded, crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve!
— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) May 17, 2020
The Nigerian government in late March announced that all airports in the country will be closed to international flights to prevent further spread of coronavirus.
“Following the announcement of 10 new cases of COVID-19, Nigeria government announced the closure of all the country’s airports to all international flights as part of the measures to curb spread of the disease,” Nigerian government tweeted saying the measure will take effect from Monday, 23 March 2020.
After the expiration of the initial closure to international flights, the government through the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 extended the measure for another four weeks in May 2020.
