U.K.’s refusal to give Air Peace access to London’s Heathrow airport has been met with a range of reactions.

Stakeholders have said that the failure of the Nigerian government to support its indigenous airlines is behind the United Kingdom’s refusal to allot a slot for Nigeria’s Air Peace airline at Heathrow airport, which has sparked a controversy.

According to the Nigerian Tribune, this occurred at the same time that the United Kingdom refused to allow Air Peace to use Heathrow Airport, a move that has been interpreted as a breach of the dual designation policy in place between the two countries.

The chairman of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema, appeared on Arise Television and revealed that the UK government has proposed that the Nigerian airline operate out of London Stansted or London Gatwick rather than the more lucrative London Heathrow Airport. This prompted the reactions you see above.

According to the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the United Kingdom and Nigeria, both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are already permitted to fly into two major airports in Nigeria.

Onyema is lobbying for the Nigerian airline to be given permission to use London Heathrow as a primary airport, similar to how U.K. airlines have been given access to Nigeria’s two largest airports.

While describing BASA as solely based on reciprocity, Mr. Akinola Ojo, a former marketing director at the now-defunct Nigeria Airways, said that the same situation has always occurred on the Nigeria/UK route.

Ojo claims that whenever the UK backs out of an agreement, Nigeria simply increases the frequencies of UK carriers.

In his words, “Does it really make sense granting some foreign countries over 20 frequencies a week as of right when your own carriers cannot exercise their own frequencies, either due to non-granting of slots to operate and or visas in some cases?” Most of these abnormalities can be treated with surgical procedures.

This was something of an issue along the way. We initially said no to the increased frequency, but after aviation minister Mrs. Kema Chikwe persuaded then-president Olusegun Obasanjo, Virgin Airlines was granted four additional frequencies in addition to BA’s seven. So, it’s safe to say that the abracadabra plans involving both of them fell through. By the time the United Kingdom began receiving more than 20 frequencies per week, the slot problem should have been resolved. He argued that frequencies were meaningless without corresponding time slots.

In response, Mr. Simon Tumba, a public relations officer, argued that BA is not in a position to dictate because the number of designated airlines and the frequencies are matters for the two countries to negotiate. Heathrow slots are notoriously expensive, and this is common knowledge among travellers. There is, however, no asymmetrical BASA. None! The issue is that not all countries use their designated airlines to meet their quota. The issue lies there.Heathrow Airport could have no available slots. Air Peace may need to pay for gate access at Heathrow Airport.

You can get to Gatwick faster than you can to Heathrow. We’re all well aware of how difficult and costly Heathrow slots are.That’s how things should work, but Heathrow is the world’s busiest airport, and one of the priciest. The truth is this.Those dudes actually study. They have a firm grasp of the game’s tenets. The majority of them are even run by native English speakers.

Group Captain John Ojikutu, retired, a former military commandant of the Lagos airport, argued that the United Kingdom had not breached the BASA agreement it has with Nigeria, and that instead of blaming the United Kingdom, responsibility should be placed on those in the “administration of our government that have no knowledge of the function and benefits of BASA.”

Like Arik did in 2013, Air Peace is providing Gatwick as part of a private arrangement. Those in power in our government at the time advocated for Arik, allowing it to fly into Heathrow. As for Air Peace, I hope the same is possible. However, I would prefer that the government officially recognise the airline as a Flag Carrier and provide it with their full backing.