Not less than 1,739 foreigners have been evacuated from Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos since the evacuation exercise began about 10 days ago.
Delta Air Lines also yesterday evacuated 208 Americans with Flight D8956 from the airport in continuation of the repatriation.
Meanwhile, the US Mission in Nigeria has urged its citizens intending to leave Nigeria to register not later than 9a.m today.
Mrs. Victoria Shin-Aba, who is the Regional Manager, South West Airport, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), made known to the aviation journalists that the evacuation exercise commenced with the airlifting of French and European citizens by Air France late March, she also added that several airlines including two Nigerian carriers have participated in airlifting foreign nationals.
Statistics provided by Shin-Aba indicated that Air France evacuated 399 French and European nationals; Lufthansa, 238; Middle East Airline (MEA), 140; Ethiopian Airlines, 148; 137 (Canadians); 375 (US); Jed Air, nine (Liberians and crew); Air Peace, 87 Isrealis and Delta with 208 Americans.
She explained that the evacuation had been going on smoothly with little or no hitches, adding that FAAN in collaboration with other agencies would continue to carry out its duties with utmost caution and professionalism.
“So far, the activities have been okay and well-coordinated. Since the closure of the airport, we have had about 10 evacuations with different nationals. We have had from Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Middle East Airline (MEA) with the Lebanese; Ethiopian Airlines has been on with Americans and Canadians. Then, we have domestic charter too. Also, Jed Air did Liberia and Air Peace airlifted Israelis. Today, we have Delta Airlines on ground that will take about 208 Americans.
“The conditions are that you have to get an approval from the Federal Ministry of Aviation. When the ministry gives the approval, it is sent to FAAN, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Then, we send the approval to all the security agencies, too. Most importantly, there is a procedure in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has to be followed.
“For instance, Port Health Service has to check everyone that is going out, at times, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will be on ground. Even, to access the terminal, there is a checking by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and others. It has been smooth sailing. “Though, we had a cancellation some few days ago, but that was not due to anybody’s fault. It was due to logistics of the flight plan.
“Apart from today (Tuesday), we have had 1,539 evacuations through the Lagos Airport alone. Today, United States is having another 208, another batch of Americans will be airlifted tomorrow (Wednesday) and next week, we are having South African Airways and Air France too. They can come up with any plan in the cause of the week. That is why we are essential workers. We have to ensure that there is smooth running of operations. Nothing is compromised,” she said.
