Abuja, NIGERIA – British Airways will partner with the Federal Government of Nigeria to develop the country’s aviation industry and its transformation agenda, the CEO of British Airways (BA), Keith Williams disclosed after a close-door meeting with Nigeria’s Vice-President, Namadi Sambo in Abuja on Thursday.
British Airways’ CEO highlighted the fact that the airline had been operating in Nigeria for the past 76 years. Williams said the country is an important market to BA and Nigeria’s huge domestic and international market is pivotal to the growth of the aviation industry.
“The future of Nigeria and the transformation programme to grow the economy is bright, and British Airways, as an airline, supports the growth of that economy through air travels. So, as the Nigerian economy grows, the British Airways will grow with Nigeria,” Williams said.
The CEO added that, “If you look at the British Airways, it has served Nigeria now for 76 years and we get a great partnership with Nigeria, which has been a long one and an important one, and it will always continue to be an important one between the two countries and the British Airways supports that.”
While expressing satisfaction with the way and manner the country’s aviation sector was being managed, Williams noted that Nigeria needs to build its domestic and regional aviation industry.
He however described the ongoing merger activities between world leading airlines as a welcome development for the global growth of the aviation industry.
BA CEO said, “If I look at the global aviation industry, it is in a period of change and what we are seeing around the world is the growth of cooperation, and that is the case with British Airways, which merged with Iberia, and tying up with an American and Japanese airlines.
“So, there are lots of merger activities happening to support global growth in the airline industry; and clearly, Nigeria is a huge important country with a huge population and it got important trade flows and the airlines need to support those important trade flows whether that is through Nigeria airlines or international airlines.”
