KLM announces return to Nigeria in december
On its website, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced it would be resuming flights to Nigeria. The airline will fly from Amsterdam to Nigeria starting in December. Nigeria suspended all international flights in March and has slowly been allowing airlines back into its airspace. Nigeria previously banned KLM and seven other major airlines from resuming operations.
Reciprocal bans
In September, the Nigerian Government announced several retaliatory bans against eight airlines. The bans prevented Air France, KLM Royal Dutch, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Air Namibia, Etihad Airways, and TAAG Angola from operating flights into Nigeria. Additionally, nationals from each airline’s home nation could not travel into Nigeria using another airline.
The ban came in response to several Nigerian nationals traveling on tourist visas being denied entry into other countries amid the ongoing pandemic. Nigeria made it very clear that its airspace would only be open to those who would reciprocate the agreement.
Great news! From December onwards, KLM will resume flights between Lagos and Amsterdam with further transfers to other destinations.
However, the ban seems to have been lifted for KLM as it announced flights would resume in December. Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika confirmed the news with a tweet stating that Air France and Lufthansa have also been given the go-ahead to resume flights to Nigeria. The Nigerian government also approved Qatar Airways for flights to Abuja.
