National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said yesterday that the domestic airlines were given a window of three weeks to prepare, saying, “we did not say flights would definitely start on June 21.“
Aliyu had said on June 1 that “the aviation industry is requested to start developing protocols to allow for domestic flights to resume anytime from June 21.”
However, while responding to a question asking for an update on the preparation, Aliyu said the PTF was yet to receive any update from the aviation sector on its preparedness to restart flight operations.
He said: “What we said to the aviation authorities is; you need to let us know from the 21st of June onwards if you are ready to start opening the skies. We didn’t say 21st of June skies open.
“We gave them a window of three weeks to prepare and I believe they are still preparing. We did not ask them for updates how things are going but we expect them to get back to us.
“The aviation industry is highly regulated. There are certain things they have to do before they start flying such as retraining of pilots, recalibrating the aircraft and ensuring safety at the airport to make sure people are safe.
“We don’t have an update on that yet but we expect them to come to us by the 21st of June. If they come back to us by the 21st of June and they say we are ready onwards, we will open the skies for domestic travellers and that’s when we will address the issue of interstate restrictions and curfew but at the moment, there is no plan right now to say, 21st of June, here we go. It’s aspirational if anything.”
He regretted that the public was still not adhering to COVID-19 guidelines saying it has shown in their behaviours.
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chetachi christiana
It seems Nigerians have obey federal government too much, u people should not worry ur self too much because very soon we will open all places by our self,then we will also let our leaders know that the respect we have for them they have sold it by treating Nigeria people un-greatfully. Nigeria is a country not ur fathers village. How can u Change ur mouth on the speech u made on June 1 for airline to resume operation on June 21.may God have mercy upon all of u.nonsense leaders/nonsense government. Non of my family member will ever cast vote for APC. U people are disgrace.don’t forget this is u first time in ruly Nigeria for eight year. Instead of helping Nigeria to stand up u end up falling Nigeria economy.U people are worst than PDP. We are tired of ur administration. The killing of innocent blood.the suffering of all Nigeria by keeping them at home on politics fake covid-19. We are tired of u Government because u are not leader animals but humans.wick administration.