FG quarantines British pilots who flouted flight ban, vows to deal with airline

The federal government says it has quarantined the pilots of a British airline that flouted Nigeria’s ban on commercial flights.

At the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, said the airline would be dealt with.

TheCable had reported how Flairjet was caught operating commercial flights despite Nigeria’s ban on commercial flights.

The airline has not made any official comment on the incident.

Sirika said the airline had applied to operate humanitarian flights but was “charging money to fly people in and out.”

“We believe that the whole essence of lockdown is to ensure there is no movement of persons freely, because this COVID-19 happened because someone travelled and brought it in. If you want to catch fish, empty the water. So, this shouldn’t happen,” he said.

“We are investigating the matter right now. It will finish very soon. The pilots will be subjected to 14-day quarantine while investigation goes on. The aircraft is impounded in Lagos. And the crew are British nationals,

“Whatever is there in our laws will be applied to the fullest.”

The federal government barred international flights into the country on March 23 as part of efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak. Only essential flights are allowed to operate at the airports.