Nigeria signs air service agreement with India

Nigeria has signed a bilateral aviation agreement with India strengthening aviation ties between the two countries.

The agreement comes weeks after Nigeria was added to India’s travel bubble list which allows both countries airlines to restart flights.

According to Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, the country has officially ratified Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) with India, the US, Morocco, and Rwanda.

Curiously, there are no airlines flying direct routes from Nigeria to India even though there have been a number of repatriation flights this year between the two.

Also, Nigeria is home to a substantial Indian expatriate population, and India sees thousands of yearly visitors from Nigeria. However, the lack of direct flights has meant passengers fly mostly with Middle East carriers.

Nigerian airline carrier, Air Piece, was set to be the first carrier to connect the two countries, with plans for a Mumbai-Lagos service in March but this was shelved due to the pandemic.

However, with Nigeria’s inclusion in India’s travel bubble and the BASA means Air Peace will have fewer regulatory hurdles when it does start flights.