Arik Air has again been forced to suspend its route between Heathrow
and Abuja, following the breakdown in discussions between the UK and
Nigeria governments over bilateral air service agreements
The carrier suspended services in October last year, before restarting flights in December.
At the time Arik gave the reason for the temporary suspension of
flights as being “due to a number of extraneous factors including
operational considerations to support the regional programme ahead of
the airline’s launch to new destinations in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali
on December 6”.
However the carrier said that it will again suspend services from
March 25, “following the inability of the UK and Nigeria governments to
come to a solution on the 2008 Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA)
and access to slots in Heathrow in line with the frequencies agreed in
the BASA”.
It says that the temporary reinstatement of flights had been made
possible when UK authorities “facilitated the temporary continuation of
the commercial lease of these slots in support of Arik Air’s Abuja –
Heathrow operation”, but added that this “interim solutuion” was only
available up until March 25.
British Airways also offers a daily service between Heathrow and the Nigerian capital.
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