FG confirms airports will no longer reopen June 21 

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said June 21 is no longer a feasible date, for the resumption of domestic flights in the country.

The Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, stated this on Thursday at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 media briefing in Abuja.

Musa represented the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, at the briefing.

According to him, it would be disastrous for the country and aviation industry to reopen the airports on that date.

Musa, however, said the agency will announce a specific date of resumption, after proper appraisal of the situation and meeting with stakeholders.

A new date is expected to be announced by the end of June.

Earlier, the Senate had said the reopening of the nation’s airports for operation on June 21 was unrealistic, following concerns raised by workers in the aviation industry.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Sen. Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi), gave the position when the committee met with officials of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Air Transport Services.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the union officials had raised concerns experienced by the workers from their various employers.

They told the committee, in their separate presentations, that workers had not been paid salaries for some months, while some were paid half or received quarter salary by their various employers since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March.

The representatives of the aviation workers also noted that there was a need for special financial intervention and provision of necessary protocols, protective systems in view of the COVID-19 pandemic before reopening the airports for operations.

Adeyemi said the senate was concerned about the issues raised by the aviation workers on their challenges, given that the aviation sector was key to the social-economic development of any country.