Federal Government has impounded a British aircraft for operating commercial flights into Nigeria amid the ban on flights operations ordered to control the spread of Covid-19.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika who announced this on Sunday on his official Twitter handle, said the company, Flair Aviation, was initially given the approval to conduct humanitarian flights, but was later caught operating commercial flights.
Sirika added that the aircraft remains impounded, while the crew is currently being interrogated, adding that the defaulter would face maximum penalty.
“COVID-19. Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably, we caught them conducting commercial flights. This is callous! The craft is impounded, the crew being interrogated. There shall be a maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve!,” Sirika tweeted.
Federal government had recently extended the ban on all flight operations by another one month. Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha who announced this on May 6, said the decision was reached after the government received advice from experts.
