After almost two decades of the absence of a direct flight operations between Nigeria and Italy, respite is coming the way of travelers on the route as another Italian airline, Neos has concluded plans to once again change the narrative as it commences flight on the Italian/Nigerian route on of October, 30
Announcing the cheering news was Skymasters Achievers International Services Limited, the Italian airline’s partner and General Sales Agent in Nigeria.
Since Alitalia stopped operations into Nigeria before it finally wound down, Nigerian travellers particularly the Christian pilgrims and tourists willing to travel to Rome have been made to go through the harrowing experience of flight connections to get to their final destinations due to the lack of direct flights between the two countries.
Neos, the second largest airline in the country, is a private airline headquartered in Somma, Lombardo, Lombardy and a subsidiary of Alpitour.
Speaking at the event held to herald the coming of the Italian carrier, the Managing director of Skymasters, Princewills Ogbonna, thanked the federal government for ensuring all bottlenecks on the way of the commencement of flights between the two countries were removed.
According to him; “ I will not forget to thank and congratulate the government and the Minister of Aviation and aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo who is working tirelessly to see that Nigeria opens up very robustly. They made sure that all bottlenecks were removed, that is why this event is holding today.”
Neon, which is presently operating between Milan and Dakar according to Ogbonna, will start with one flight into Nigeria weekly using a Boeing 737 aircraft and expected to increase the flight to thrice weekly subsequently.
His words: “Now you may not understand, Neos is presently flying between Milan and Dakar and they fly with 787 and 60 percent of the passengers traffic going through there are Nigerians, that is to tell you that Nigerians are paying to make other countries richer and they are treating us poorly, that is why we are starting in a strategic way to make sure we don’t make any mistake, that is why we are deploying Neos to develop a strategy to start with a 737 once a week to first test the waters in the first month. And from the second month, we will increase the flight to three times a week. We are the partners of Neos in Nigeria and we are also their General Sales Agent exclusive in Nigeria, that is what we represent.”
The Italian carrier which presently operates in over 50 destinations of the world while speaking through its sales agent in Nigeria, said it was ready to adjust its Nigeria operations to better suit groups and associations in accordance with their request and advice.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, praised the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development for making the achievement possible, while describing the success in the aviation industry as a success for Nigeria.
The minister who spoke through the Director of the European Affairs Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alex Kefas, described the launch of the airline’s direct trip to Nigeria as an official re-launch of the Nigeria-Italy Airlinks.
According to the foreign affairs minister: “I would like to seize the opportunity and use this occasion to congratulate the SkyMaster partnership and other stakeholders for concretising our long-awaited dreams. These companies (Nigeria and Italy) are our Super Ambassadors in their own rights. Their efforts have made our work easier in the Aviation Sector. I believe very soon Nigerians and Italians will start flying to Milan and Lagos, and this hopefully includes other cities.
In the same vein, the Italian Consul General in Nigeria, Ugo Boni, expressed happiness at the development, saying the direct flight to Nigeria from Italy is long overdue.
Looking forward to when the airline would increase its frequency to three bearing in mind the relationship between Nigeria and Italy, Boni remarked: “This is a welcome development and I am happy to be here. Nigeria, Italy’s relationship will be strengthened. This is long overdue and I hope that we increase the frequency from one to three every week very quickly. We are also doing our best to put the visa processing between two weeks, at least my business here is not to hinder Nigerians from travelling but to rather make it easier for them.”
Sifax SAHCO Travels Limited, a travel and tour management company is also a major partner of Skymasters favoured to sell tickets to passengers traveling onboard Neos and arrange other travels logistics for seamless experience.
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