Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has urged Nigerians to patronise Air Peace and other local airlines flying international routes.
This, Keyamo said, is the only way local airlines can survive stiff competition from foreign carriers.
Recall that Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, commenced its Lagos-London flight services in March.
However, Allen Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, lamented that some foreign airlines are conspiring to take his company out of business by underpricing the flight tickets for the Lagos-London route.
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Reacting to this, Keyamo said while he cannot make a policy statement on what the Nigerian government will do to support Air Peace, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration would continue to assist local entrepreneurs.
“The first thing is for Nigerians to fully patronise not only Air Peace but all indigenous airlines on international routes. Before the federal government does anything, let Nigerians patronise him and know that this is our indigenous airline.
“As for government, I cannot make any policy statement for the government now because I am a minister. Whatever we can do, we will discuss that behind the scenes. But it’s wrong for me to make a policy statement now.
“As I have said earlier, one of my main goals in office is to help Nigeria’s domestic airlines grow and improve, supporting President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” he said in a chat with Cable.
