Okechukwu Nnodim

Some foreign airlines are allegedly  planning to resume flights to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt  airports despite the ban on international commercial  flights by  the Federal Government  in a bid to halt  COVID-19 spread.

Although some of the airlines said  their plans could change, it was learnt  on Saturday that  some of the international carriers had already scheduled some flights to Nigeria from June.

But the Federal Ministry of Aviation declared that such plans would not work until the flight ban  was  lifted.

Also, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria said  no foreign or local carrier could take decision to fly to or within Nigeria if the government had not opened the airspace.

It was learnt  on Saturday that Lufthansa Airlines had included Abuja and Port Harcourt among its 20 long-haul routes to begin flight operations in June.

It was learnt  that the carrier had made its first batch of flight reservation available in its booking system.

The company  plans to resume long-haul flights in June from Frankfurt to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Toronto, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Bahrain, Johannesburg, Dubai and  Mumbai, among others.

Virgin Atlantic recently announced that beginning from May 16, services for its summer schedule flights from March 28, 2021 would be on sale, as it had scheduled