How BASA Deals Favour Foreign Airlines Over Nigerian Carriers

For decades, Nigeria’s Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) were designed to encourage reciprocal airline operations and boost connectivity between countries. However, many Nigerian airlines have struggled over the years to benefit from these agreements, while foreign carriers continue to dominate international routes in and out of the country.

BASAs are agreements between one government and another that define how airlines from two countries can operate commercial flights between them. The agreements cover route rights, frequencies, and capacity.

Interline arrangements, on the other hand, are commercial agreements between airlines. That means one airline can sell tickets for specified routes for another airline.

Industry analysts argue that while BASAs provide legal access to global routes, the harsh realities of international aviation economics have made interline arrangements the safer and more sustainable option for many domestic operators.

With rising operational costs, aircraft shortages, forex instability, and stiff international competition, aviation stakeholders say Nigerian airlines are increasingly turning to interline partnerships with foreign carriers for commercial advantages.

Strategic Global Partnerships 

Recently, Air Peace, a leading Nigerian flag carrier, and Turkish Airlines, the flag carrier of Türkiye, signed a bilateral interline agreement to enhance connectivity between Air Peace’s domestic/regional routes in Nigeria, West and Central Africa, and Turkish Airlines’ extensive global network.

The interline partnership enables passengers of both airlines to enjoy seamless single-ticket travel, coordinated schedules and simplified baggage handling on selected routes. Under the agreement, Turkish Airlines passengers arriving in Lagos can seamlessly connect to different Nigerian cities and parts of West Africa through Air Peace. Also, Air Peace passengers can gain access to Turkish Airlines’ vast global route network through Istanbul.

Earlier in January, Air Peace also announced that it had activated a bilateral interline agreement with Emirates, expanding air connectivity between Africa, the UAE, and London.

The agreement offers passengers of both airlines hitch-free, single-ticket travel and through-checked baggage on select routes. The airline said the deal offers greater travel comfort and convenience to customers.

Also, recently, United Nigeria Airlines was admitted into the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Multilateral Interline Traffic Agreement (MITA) for passenger operations. The inclusion of the airline in IATA’s MITA allows it to enter into code-sharing and interline partnerships with IATA-member airlines worldwide.

It means the airline now meets the global financial and operational standards required to sell seats on behalf of (and be sold by) major carriers.

The airline said the move not only expands its route network but also strengthens its capacity to receive international passengers connecting to domestic and regional destinations.

The Capacity Gap: Why BASA Remains Underutilized 

Reports indicate that Nigeria has signed over 90 BASAs with countries across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Yet only a handful of Nigerian airlines have successfully ventured into long-haul international operations.

The challenge, according to aviation experts, lies not in the agreements themselves but in the capacity gap between Nigerian carriers and their foreign counterparts.

In an exclusive interview with Pinnacle Daily, former rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NICAT), Zaria, Capt. Samuel Caulcrick said implementation of BASA has been uneven, with foreign airlines utilising it more.

According to him, Nigeria has not been able to reap the full benefits of BASAs due to indigenous airlines’ lack of capacity in terms of the required fleet sizes to operate different routes, among other requirements.

“It was expected that one or two or three airlines in Nigeria would operate, for instance, to the UAE, while the country’s airlines, that is, Emirates or Etihad, could operate to Nigeria, according to their agreement. But in most cases, you know, since Nigeria Airways went down, we have been holding the short end of the stick,” he stated.

The aviation expert also highlighted other challenges facing Nigerian airlines, such as limited access to aircraft leasing, multiple charges, the high cost of aviation fuel, and exchange rate volatility.

The story has repeated itself over the years with several operators that attempted routes to London, Dubai, Johannesburg, China, or the United States but later scaled back operations due to mounting operational pressure.

Air Peace has made notable progress in its international route, especially the London operation, which it started in March 2024.

The airline’s entry was said to have led to a crash in ticket prices on the London route as other foreign airlines that had been dominating the operation were forced to adjust fares as competition became intense. 

The “Dirty Politics” of International Aviation 

Apart from the challenges highlighted above, aeropolitics has also been cited as another hurdle for Nigerian airlines in operating international routes.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had, while speaking during Air Peace’s inaugural flight from Lagos to London two years ago, stated that on paper, BASA is meant to grant reciprocal access to airlines of countries in terms of slots, but there is also “politics of BASA”. 

He said some countries deploy measures to frustrate the other party’s airlines from taking advantage of the BASA.  

Highlighting the challenges Air Peace faced while trying to start the London operation, the chairman, Allen Onyema, said there were both internal and external conspiracies to prevent the airline, even when it had met all requirements.

Onyema said most Nigerian airlines that had ventured into international operations were “dealt with under the dirty international aeropolitics”.

The airline was only granted access to Gatwick Airport when it began London operations and was only allowed to begin flying into Heathrow in October 2025.

Foreign regulators sometimes impose stringent technical audits or ground-handling requirements on Nigerian airlines that are not equally applied to their own carriers, essentially using “safety” as a trade barrier. Onyema confirmed his airline had the experience while pushing to operate the London route.

Interline Deals Emerging as Strategic Lifeline

Against the backdrop of BASA challenges, interline agreements are becoming increasingly attractive.

For Nigerian airlines, this model provides access to international markets without the enormous financial burden of operating long-haul flights directly.

Industry experts note that for passengers, the arrangement provides three primary advantages: single-ticket pricing, baggage coordination and expanded connectivity.

Caulcrick said interline arrangement is a common practice all over the world, which enhances seamless movement and also enables domestic airlines to become increasingly interconnected in the global aviation market.

On the implications for the economy, the aviation expert noted that direct flights through BASA benefit the economy, but when domestic airlines are unable to operate as many international routes, they resort to interline agreements.

Foreign airlines typically fly only into Lagos and Abuja, leaving Nigerian operators to dominate connectivity into secondary cities such as Owerri, Uyo, Asaba, Ilorin, Yola, Maiduguri, and Benin.

Through interline partnerships, local airlines can feed passengers from these cities into international networks, making domestic connectivity their strongest bargaining tool.

Caulcrick said this model could help Nigerian carriers generate stable revenues while improving passenger convenience.

However, there are limitations, as the agreements are mostly route-specific. Not every destination served by a foreign airline is automatically covered under an interline deal with a Nigerian carrier.

The expert observed that while interline agreement favours airlines commercially, it limits the choices of passengers in terms of connecting flights, especially for an airline that has a record of delaying flights. 

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“It does help in increasing connectivity, but what we should ask ourselves is, if, for instance, Air Peace, which is always delaying flights, how does that affect the Emirates’ customers? Now, they have just limited the passengers’ choices of getting to say Uyo. Emirates will fly the passengers to Abuja or Lagos. Normally, the passenger will say, ‘Which one is going? Ibom Air is there. Ibom Air has more connectivity to Uyo. But now, if Emirates sells the ticket to Uyo on Air Peace, the choices of that passenger are limited. So that means it is not good for the customer, but mostly for the airlines,” Caulcrick further stated.

 Structural Hurdles and the Road to Fleet Expansion 

Experts caution that interline partnerships alone will not solve the structural problems facing Nigerian aviation.

Airlines still grapple with high aviation fuel costs, poor airport infrastructure, multiple government charges, and limited access to affordable financing.

There are also concerns over operational reliability, as frequent flight delays and cancellations can weaken confidence among international partners.

To attract stronger global partnerships, Nigerian carriers must improve schedule integrity, fleet reliability, customer service standards, and digital integration systems.

Industry stakeholders further argue that government policies must evolve to support indigenous airlines more strategically if Nigeria hopes to build globally competitive carriers.

While acknowledging the presence of aeropolitics and its impact on the implementation of BASA, former Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Harold Demuren, called on domestic carriers to consider entering into interline arrangements with foreign airlines.

“Any Nigerian airline on foreign routes must receive the support of the government. Those other countries also support their own. International airlines fly into our airports; it will not be a bad idea if local carriers, too, begin to enter into interline agreements with them,” Demuren stated in his remarks at an event organised by SAPTCO Communications in November last year.

The Ex-DG of the NCAA called for a review of BAS As to benefit both sides equally, adding that Nigerian carriers need significant government support to succeed in the international route operations.

Government Intervention and the Push for Dry Leasing 

Addressing the issue of capacity, Onyema, in one of his TV appearances, said most Nigerian airlines do not have access to dry lease because of country risk, subjecting them to only wet lease, which he said is very expensive. 

According to him, most airlines worldwide use dry lease to acquire a large fleet and operate many flights to many destinations around the world, utilising their BASAs.

The aviation minister has continued to push for Nigerian airlines to have access to dry lease. Recently, the federal government approved the establishment of a national aircraft leasing company to support domestic airlines.

In a follow-up, a delegation from Nigeria’s aviation sector, led by the minister, visited France, where they secured deals with Airbus and other aviation institutions. The deal reached with Airbus was to facilitate the creation of a platform that would enable Nigerian airlines to access new aircraft using a sovereign guarantee framework approved by the federal government.