The federal government has designated Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace, to start direct flight to Brazil immediately the airline provides aircraft for the route.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, while fielding questions in a television interview.
Tuggar said that this was part of the outcome of the meeting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had with his Brazilian counterpart, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – that as Air Peace provide passenger service to Brazil, a Brazilian carrier, LATAM will operate cargo services between Nigeria and Brazil.
“Air Peace is to be flying between Nigeria and Brazil. LATAM, Brazil’s own airline, will be flying cargo between Nigeria and Brazil. We already have the green imperative that is already up and running.
“If you remember before this visit to Brazil, the Vice President of Brazil, who is also the Minister for Trade and Investment had visited Nigeria to further build on the green imperative, which is going to have agricultural projects in every local government in Nigeria,” the minister disclosed.
The minister also disclosed that the presidents of both countries discussed how Brazil’s aircraft manufacturer would establish a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria for the maintenance of Embraer aircraft in West and Central Africa.
“And as soon as Air Peace secures a plane that it can put on that route, the Brazilian equivalent of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), National Civil Aviation Agency, has said they are ready to approve for them (LATAM) to start flying to Nigeria immediately.
“This is something the two presidents emphasised. President Lula said, ‘Look I am 79; President Tinubu is 73; we don’t have time. This has to be done as quickly as possible and Mr. President (Tinubu) also re-emphasised that. So, we have our marching orders, we are ready to go,” the minister said.
Air Peace had a firm order of about 35 Embraer aircraft, including E195-E2 and E175 aircraft types of which five have been delivered to the airline.
Meanwhile, Air Peace has confirmed that its Flight P47190, operating from Lagos to Port Harcourt on Sunday morning, had a runway excursion after landing safely at the Port Harcourt International Airport.
The airline explained the aircraft veered slightly off the runway without any damage and all passengers disembarked safely and calmly, and no injuries were reported.
“We reassure the flying public of our unflinching commitment to maintaining the highest standards of safety in all our operations,” the airline said in a statement.
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