Chinelo Obogo
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has begun the fumigation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, and the Port Harcourt International Airport ahead of planned resumption of flights in June.
The agency which announced this on its social media pages on May 19, 2020, said it has begun fumigation of the three major international airports against the coronavirus as it prepares for resumption of operations after two months of travel restrictions.
It was not clear, however, whether the flight restrictions will be extended as the agency said it was taking this proactive steps to ensure the safety of passengers and other airport users when the gateways are reopened. All areas of the airports especially the departure and arrival halls, including offices will be fumigated.
The Federal Government had extended the local and international flight restrictions for four weeks in an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and Daily Sun reported that domestic airlines are already making preparations for resumption of operations, hopeful that flight restrictions would not be extended and operations would resume in June.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, told Daily Sun that domestic carriers have been meeting with regulatory agencies and service providers on the modalities for flight resumptions and the need to avert a total collapse of the industry as they await further directives from the Ministry of Aviation.
He said: “The regulators have spelt out the guidelines. We will follow same and resume when directed. There are ongoing meetings, discussions on the need to avert a total collapse of the industry and the dangers of continued restriction on flights. Even as IATA confirmed that based on evidence, the possibility of contracting COVID-19 in-flight is very low. All of that is going on and hopefully we would have a date when these discussions are concluded.
“We are preparing seriously. Our engineers and maintenance team have been working for the past two months to keep our aircraft in shape so even if asked to resume tomorrow we are fine and our guests are safe. Like I said earlier, we are ready, but we await further directive as a law abiding corporate entity.”