The historical record of Nigerian aviation news — past events, policy changes, and industry milestones dating back to 2015.
United Nigeria Airlines operates the first scheduled commercial flight into Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport on 10 December 2025, six years after construction began on the state-funded facility in Ado-Ekiti.
Nigeria hosts its first-ever International Airshow from 2-4 December 2025 at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, drawing global manufacturers, airlines and regulators as the government positions the country as an emerging African aviation hub.
The federal government designates Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for international operations on 27 November 2025, with aviation minister Festus Keyamo citing its near-complete MRO facility and 3.6-kilometre runway.
The NCAA imposes a N5 million fine on Qatar Airways on 19 November 2025 for consumer protection infractions, two months after accusing the airline of mistreating a Nigerian passenger detained in Doha.
Air Peace receives a dry-leased Boeing 737-700NG from AerCap Holdings on 8 November 2025, marking Nigeria's first dry-lease aircraft delivery in nearly a decade and a milestone in restoring the country's standing with global lessors.
Gateway International Airport in Ilishan-Iperu, Ogun State, begins commercial operations on 7 October 2025, with a ValueJet aircraft carrying the first passengers to Abuja as Governor Dapo Abiodun marks the culmination of a project first launched in 2021.
The NCAA suspends the licences of two ValueJet pilots and places Fuji musician Wasiu Ayinde (KWAM1) on a no-fly list after he prevented a flight from departing Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on 5 August 2025.
Ibom Air bans passenger Comfort Emmanson for life and the Airline Operators of Nigeria places her on an industry-wide no-fly list after she allegedly assaulted cabin crew on a Lagos-bound flight from Uyo on 10 August 2025.
Enugu Air, the Enugu State government's new commercial carrier, operates its first flight from Lagos to Enugu on 7 July 2025, with aviation minister Festus Keyamo and Governor Peter Mbah presiding over the inauguration at Akanu Ibiam International Airport.
The NCAA sanctions Kenya Airways on 7 May 2025 and gives the carrier seven days to compensate affected passengers, after a Nigerian traveller's viral complaint about alleged mistreatment at a transfer desk.
Emirates resumes daily flights between Dubai and Lagos on 1 October 2024, two years after suspending Nigerian operations over trapped revenue, following diplomatic engagement between the Tinubu government and the United Arab Emirates.
A Dana Air aircraft skids off the runway while landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on 23 April 2024, prompting the Minister of Aviation to direct the NCAA to suspend the airline's operations for a full safety and financial audit.
Air Peace operates its first direct flight from Lagos to London Gatwick on 30 March 2024, becoming the first Nigerian carrier in years to fly the route after securing UK authorisation and, eventually, landing slots at Gatwick.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria reopens Runway 18R/36L at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on 17 February 2024, ending nearly a year of international traffic being squeezed onto the airport's domestic runway.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo directs the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to relocate its corporate headquarters from Abuja back to Lagos, reversing a 2020 policy and citing nearly half a billion naira spent yearly on staff flying between the two cities.
New Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo suspends the Nigeria Air national carrier project and ongoing airport concession agreements on 31 August 2023, pending a full review of both initiatives.
Festus Keyamo is sworn in on 21 August 2023 as Nigeria's Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development under President Bola Tinubu, taking over an industry facing scrutiny over the Nigeria Air project and trapped foreign airline funds.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority publishes Nig.CARs 2023, the fourth amendment to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, superseding the 2015 edition and taking effect from 1 July 2023.
The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation calls the unveiling of Nigeria Air a fraud on 6 June 2023 and asks the federal government to suspend the national carrier project pending a full review.
The planned national carrier Nigeria Air is presented at Abuja's Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on 26 May 2023, days before President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office, using an aircraft chartered from Ethiopian Airlines.
A review of Nigerian aviation in 2022 shows a sector squeezed by jet fuel costs, a foreign exchange crisis that drove Emirates out of the market, and Dana Air's suspension, even as a new Lagos terminal opened.
Emirates says it will suspend all flights to and from Nigeria from 1 September 2022 after failing to repatriate $85 million in trapped revenue amid the country's foreign exchange shortage.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended Dana Air's operating licences indefinitely from 20 July 2022, after a financial and safety audit found the airline unable to meet its obligations.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria says member airlines will suspend all domestic flights from 9 May 2022 after jet fuel prices nearly quadrupled amid the global fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned a new international terminal at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, built to process 14 million passengers annually.
A review of Nigerian aviation in 2021 shows a sector still working to recover from the 2020 pandemic collapse, marked by a new airline launch, the return of the Boeing 737 MAX, and fresh COVID-related disruption late in the year.
The United Kingdom has removed Nigeria and ten other African countries from its COVID-19 travel red list from 15 December 2021, citing widespread community transmission of Omicron within Britain itself.
Nigeria has banned airlines from the UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia from operating into the country from 14 December 2021, reciprocating travel restrictions those nations placed on Nigeria over the Omicron variant.
Green Africa Airways operated its first commercial flight between Lagos and Abuja on 12 August 2021, ending more than two years of delays in launching Nigeria's newest low-cost carrier.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has lifted its ban on the Boeing 737 MAX, effective 12 February 2021, nearly two years after grounding the aircraft following two fatal crashes.
Lagos and Abuja reopened to international air traffic under a phased, capped restart, with Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines among the first carriers back and testing protocols required at both ends of the journey.
The South East's only international airport reopened after a year-long closure and a N10 billion runway rebuild, with domestic flights resuming immediately and international service to follow within days.
Lagos and Abuja airports reopened for domestic traffic after a three-and-a-half-month coronavirus shutdown, with airlines running supervised shakedown flights and new passenger protocols in place before the restart.
President Buhari elevated Hadi Sirika from Minister of State to substantive Minister of Aviation as part of his second-term cabinet, handing him a standalone portfolio and control of the sector's roadmap.
The Akwa Ibom State Government-owned carrier flew its first scheduled route between Uyo and Lagos, positioning itself on reliability and on-time performance in a domestic market long dogged by delays.
Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika announced the airspace ban after a Federal Executive Council meeting, saying no Nigerian carrier flew the type yet but that Air Peace and Arik Air orders made the precaution necessary.
The new terminal, funded through a $500 million China Exim Bank loan, is designed to handle 15 million passengers annually and became the first Nigerian airport building directly linked to a rail transit line.
The directive followed at least three runway excursion incidents involving domestic operators in the first three quarters of 2018, none of which resulted in serious injuries.
The federal government pulled back its flagship national carrier plan just weeks after unveiling Nigeria Air's name and livery in the UK, with the Economic Management Team reportedly opposed to funding it with public money.
The airline, once one of Nigeria's largest domestic carriers, restarted with a scaled-back schedule as its search for fresh capital and a strategic core investor continued.
The additions extended the airline's ATR fleet as it continued focusing on regional and secondary routes largely avoided by Nigeria's larger scheduled carriers.
The regulator grounded the indigenous carrier indefinitely after finding it had kept flying scheduled routes more than eight months after its licence was downgraded to charter-only for lacking a second airworthy aircraft.
The new wing added check-in counters, boarding gates and passenger processing capacity as the airport worked to shed its reputation for congestion and outdated facilities.
Regulators pointed to inadequate schedule planning and insufficient aircraft reserves as passengers faced hours-long delays and last-minute cancellations at the height of the Yuletide rush.
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport reopened one day ahead of its extended deadline after a six-week closure that forced every Abuja-bound flight onto a 160-kilometre road diversion through Kaduna, a shutdown the government said was unavoi
The aviation minister set out the government's plan to shut Abuja's only runway for repairs months before the closure itself, picking Kaduna as the alternative airport over three closer options and drawing immediate criticism over security
Emirates and Kenya Airways both withdrew their Abuja services indefinitely in 2016, citing thin load factors made worse by Nigeria's foreign exchange restrictions, adding two more African and Middle Eastern connections to a growing list of
Aero Contractors, one of Nigeria's oldest carriers, and the smaller First Nation Airways both stopped flying within the same week in 2016, a visible sign of how a recession driven by collapsing oil prices and a battered naira was reaching d
Nigeria posted a 67.36 percent effective implementation score on the International Civil Aviation Organisation's safety oversight audit in March 2016, ahead of the global average, and followed it in July with a new set of Nigerian Civil Avi
United Airlines confirmed its last flight between Lagos and Houston would operate on 30 June 2016, following Iberia's withdrawal in May, as the International Air Transport Association pressed Nigeria to release more than $600 million in tic
Emirates was cleared to resume flights between Dubai and Lagos from 1 December 2015 after Nigeria's aviation authorities lifted a suspension that had kept the carrier off the route since March of that year.
President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet announcement on 25 November 2015 named Senator Hadi Sirika as Minister of State for Aviation, filling a post left vacant since Osita Chidoka departed earlier in the year and giving the sector its first s
The incoming APC administration set out a long-term reform agenda for Nigerian aviation, built around six pillars including a privately-run national carrier and the concession of the country's four major airport terminals.
Port Harcourt International Airport topped a global list of the world's worst airports in November 2015, with Lagos and Abuja also ranked among the continent's ten worst, though the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria rejected the survey'
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria confirmed in October 2015 that it had airlifted more than 41,000 pilgrims home from Saudi Arabia, closing out a pilgrimage season overshadowed by the Mina stampede weeks earlier, which killed thousand
Foreign carriers sold tickets in naira but found the currency increasingly difficult to convert as the Central Bank of Nigeria rationed scarce dollars, and by mid-2015 the International Air Transport Association was reporting blocked airlin
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority issued a revised edition of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations in 2015, updating the rulebook first published in 2006 to reflect the most recent Standards and Recommended Practices adopted by ICAO.
All seven occupants of a Nigerian Air Force Dornier DO228, including two pilots and two engineers, died when the aircraft went out of control shortly after departure from Kaduna and crashed into a residential building.
The crash of a Bristow-operated Sikorsky S-76 helicopter in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos, which killed all six people on board, led the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to order a comprehensive audit of every airline in the country and a
A Med-View Airline flight carrying 82 passengers, including Borno State officials, marked the resumption of commercial services at Maiduguri International Airport after the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria reopened the facility for the
All five people on board a SWAT Technology-operated Hawker 800XP escaped unhurt after the aircraft's nose gear collapsed during a night landing at Port Harcourt, with investigators citing disorientation caused by unserviceable runway edge l
A months-long nationwide fuel shortage, worsened by a strike among oil tanker drivers, culminated in late May 2015 in widespread flight cancellations, with Aero Contractors alone grounding roughly 80 percent of its schedule.
With Bi-Courtney's privately operated MMA2 domestic terminal running profitably at Lagos while government-run terminals struggled with congestion and neglect, aviation planners in 2015 held it up as proof of concept for a long-delayed plan
With movement nationwide restricted for the presidential and legislative polls, all ten of Nigeria's domestic airlines stayed grounded on election day, with the industry estimated to have lost around N200 million in a single day of suspende
African Union heads of state adopted a declaration establishing the Single African Air Transport Market in January 2015, with Nigeria among the founding group of eleven countries pledging unconditional implementation of the 1999 Yamoussoukr