Air Transportation: Cote D’Ivoire given 10-day ultimatum to honour reciprocity agreement

The Airline Operators of Nigeria has slammed a 10-day ultimatum on the government of Cote D’Ivoire to honour the reciprocity agreement in the African air transportation business or face severe consequences.

The association said the ultimatum was to enable the West African country grant it access to operate in line with the agreement, beginning from April 18, 2023.

The association’s Vice President, Allen Onyema, declared this while speaking at the ongoing Single African Air Transport Market Pilot Implementation Project Workshop(Cluster 1 Coalition Roadshow) in Abuja, on Tuesday.

Onyema, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, further said that if by April 28, 2023 Cote D’Ivoire refused to honour the reciprocity agreement they signed, they would “see what will happen thereafter”.

He bemoaned the practice where Nigeria opened its aviation sector to almost free access to African countries, while these countries, especially those in the West African sub-region, had continued to deny her carriers access to their own countries.

He said the practice was unhealthy, evil, unacceptable and would be challenged henceforth.

Onyema also said that Cote D’Ivoire’s actions, and that of other African countries like Togo and Benin Republic, were against the principle of reciprocity contained in the Bilateral Air Services Agreements they signed.

“Today is the 18th of April. If by the 28th of April, 2023, if Cote D’Ivoire refuses to honour the reciprocity agreement they signed, they will see what will happen thereafter. Whoever knows them should tell them. And any other Nigerian who wants to go there must go there”, he stressed.

He also criticised as unfair the billings by the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar, noting that the spirit of Pan-Africanism must be activated to stop unfair business practices.

Onyema however noted that Nigerian airlines were not against open skies but would rather insist that the implementation be fair to all concerned.