Senate asks Lufthansa to remit N2bn royalty to FG

The Senate has urged a German airline, Luftansa Airline, to either pay N2.19 billion royalty it owed the Federal Government from 2009 to October 2011 or risk sanctions.Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo) gave the directive in Abuja yesterday while interacting with the management of the airline, representatives of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and officials of the Ministry of Aviation over the validation of the 2008 Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).Senator Uzodinma also berated the airline for allegedly disregarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed in 2008 to train Nigerian pilots, employ at least 10 Nigerians as members of its cabin crew and provide necessary equipment in the nation's airports.Earlier, the acting Director of Air Transport Management in the Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Hassan Musa, told the committee that Luftansa Airline was 'flying 14 frequencies to the country instead of four passenger and three cargo flights allowed by the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA)'.Musa said that he once advised the then Minister of Aviation, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba, to cancel the MoU 'because Nigeria was not deriving any benefits expected from it,' but that Omotoba only gave a verbal approval. The committee summoned the former minister to appear before it on Friday.
Click here to read full news..