The Minister Of Aviation, Hadi Sirika while briefing the press on Monday, 13 July 2020 at the presidential task force on #Covid19, expressed satisfaction at the dry run test which took place at the Lagos, Abuja, Kano International Airport. He expressed gratitude for compliance at the reopened airports and efforts put together by the aviation community especially FAAN, Nigerian CAA, and other agencies.

Again, the minister emphasized/clarified on the aircraft seating arrangement, he said, “The air that we breathe within the cabin of the aircraft is ambient air which is naturally clean on altitudes and even during taxi, on the ground, the one contaminated is the one that’s ducted and compressed, during compressing, the temperature rises to 200 degrees then cooled to about 2 degrees then passed into the High-Efficiency Particulate Filters, HEPA filters with filtration efficiency a from 0.1-0.3 micrometer and its ability to take out bacteria and virus with circulation every 2 minutes. So it’s safe”

On resumption of International travel, He said, “Sadly we are aware countries are placing bans on other countries with high infection rate, likewise, Nigeria has placed a ban on countries that cannot come in, This and many other reasons will make us be cautious to study some more and to liaise with all of the stakeholders and decided when to open international flight. We have to be responsible enough to ensure that everyone is safe and whatever decision is taken, is taken in the interest of humanity in general, this is the guiding principle and we’ll continue to observe the development internationally also with ECOWAS”

Lastly, he disclaimed the writeup by one Professor Aminu accusing him of ordering a Max Air flight on Saturday, 11 July, to delay its departure out of Abuja to Kano from 10 am to 4:30 pm and attending a wedding in Kano.