Majority Of Foreign Airlines Don’t Respect BASA Guidelines– Godwin Onyeama

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Saturday, September 17th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The chairman and Chief Executive officer OF Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, says that many foreign airlines don’t respect the Bilateral Services Air Agreement (BASA) agreement and Nigerians who travel by air have to bear the brunt as they have to pay more than any country in the last couple of years for international flights.

Onyema made this assertion in an interview with Channels Television as he kicked against the fact that Nigerians have to pay lots of money for a trip that his company, Air Peace, could ferry travelling Nigerians cheaply.

BASA simply refers to a set of regulations and methods for cooperation that connect the authorities to prevent unnecessary duplication of evaluation and to facilitate the certification of aeronautical products by the civil aviation authorities. The sole purpose of BASA is to assist the trade in aircraft and related products and make sure of the highest levels of aviation safety.

It however seems that the principle upon which BASA was founded is just merely on paper as it has not been duly followed. Thus, Onyema lamented that Nigerians have not enjoyed the benefits derivable from the BASA document.

He said: “In the last 25 years people from South Africa take 9 hours flight to London and they have been paying less than Nigeria’s six hours. Nigerians will fly from 5 to 6 hours and pay more than a person flying from Johannesburg to London. It has been years. It didn’t start today.

“The Bilateral Services Air Agreement (BASA) provides for both repatriation of forms and the most important aspect of BASA is the reciprocity that the airline and their countries abide by the agreement. Have they respected the BASA they signed with Nigerians, the answer is no.

“Why are Nigerians paying 2.3 million naira for economy ticket to go to London when Air Peace could have taken them N500, 000.”