Passengers on international flights would have to arrive the airport three hours before flights when Nigeria finally opens its airspace for international operations, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 said on Thursday.

The PTF has asked the aviation authorities and airline operators to begin the process for the restart of international flights.

Travellers have been anxiously waiting for the resumption of international flights with the reopening of domestic airports for domestic flights in July, after almost four months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Related News

The PTF National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, during a briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and other agencies, as well as airlines, should commence the process for the restart of international flights.

According to Aliyu, passengers would arrive three hours before flights when the country’s airspace finally opens for international operations.

“Specific to air transportation, as you are aware, domestic flights have already resumed, the railway sector has also restarted. For international travel, we have made recommendation to the aviation industry to commence the process for opening international airport provided all existing international and local Covid-19 protocol are in place,” he said.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date

Open In Whatsapp