Nigeria Relaunching Air Cargo Operation With Saudi Arabia

The minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Tuesday, disclosed that cargo flight operations between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are set to resume after years of inactivity.

The minister, who disclosed this on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, noted that, he discussed the resumption of cargo flight operations with the minister of Transport and Logistics of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saleh Al-Jasser, on Monday, on the sidelines of the ongoing Future Aviation Forum (FAF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The minister further indicated that both sides agreed to resume cargo operations between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, and focal persons were appointed to work out the modalities.

“Yesterday, at the sidelines of the on-going Future Aviation Forum (FAF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I met my counterparts from the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the discussion was about the resumption of cargo flights operations between both countries that had gone comatose over the years. Both sides agreed to resume the operations and appointed focal persons to work out the modalities,” the post read in part.

The minister further stated that he met Qatar’s Minister of Transport, Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, at the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, even as they discussed implementing the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) and other mutual interests.

The Aviation minister has repeatedly emphasised that, one of his main focus is to review and ensure compliance with Nigeria’s BASA arrangements, as unfavourable agreements have negatively impacted Nigeria’s aviation sector.