Commercial flights are scheduled to commence at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport, Minna, during the Easter period, decades after it was abandoned by airlines operators.

The chief press secretary to the state governor, Bologi Ibrahim, stated this Wednesday in a statement issued in Minna, adding that the commercial flights will commence on April 23, 2025 by Overland Airways.

He said, “The commercial flights scheduled for Lagos and Abuja effective from April 23, 2025 will see Overland Airways operate three weekly flights on the Minna-Lagos-Minna route and three weekly flights on the Minna-Abuja-Minna route.”

He stated that the flights are scheduled to be operated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays using Overland Airways’ brand-new Embraer 175 aircraft, adding that, “flights will depart Lagos to Minna at 8am and Minna to Lagos at 3pm while flights from Minna to Abuja will depart at 9:30am and Abuja to Minna will depart at 2pm.”

He said that the commencement of the commercial flight is one of the initiatives of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago who has for long been advocating commercial flights to begin at the BAT International Airport, Minna, to help boost growth and development of the state.

The development, according to the chief press secretary, is in tandem with the vision of the governor to boost tourism and woo more investors to the state and in the long run, improve the livelihood of citizens of the state.

“The operations of Overland Airways is to be checkmated by the New Niger Aviation (NNA), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the New Niger Development Project (NNDP), established to manage and enhance the aviation sector in Niger state,” he stated. (Blueprint)