The Nigerian Government and the Canadian government recently signed a code-sharing agreement to increase efficiency in the aviation industry.This development was announced by Gbenga Saka, Special Adviser on digital media to the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, on his X page.

Code-sharing is a practice in the airline industry where two airlines strike an agreement that allows one to sell seats on a flight operated by the other.The agreement signed would permit two or more airlines from Canada or Nigeria to sell seats on each other’s flights.

While speaking during the signing of the agreement, Keyamo said the agreement would strengthen the relationship between both countries.

He said: “Today, we advance our relationship one step further as we sign a very important agreement.“It is not a full Bilateral Air Service Agreement, but one that has to do with codes-haring, and subsequently, we are going to designate airlines on both sides to move this forward.

“An agreement has come into force today and we will have to communicate with our local operators on both sides.“Many of them have been actually lining up for this initiative.

We have actually granted a few operators approval to run that route already and it is just for them to take advantage of this code-sharing agreement to begin operations.”Keyamo also stated that the agreement was entered to ignite an aeronautical relationship between both countries.

In the same vein, Pasquale Salvaggio, High commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, said the agreement indicates the people-to-people ties and the advancing bilateral and commercial relations between both countries.

Salvaggio said: “Code sharing is important because it allows for an airline to place their designator codes on a flight operated by another airline and then to sell tickets on that flight, offering passengers a seamless journey on one ticket.“So, this is one step in making it a more seamless process for the operators and for the passengers.”On July 23, 2024, both countries started talks over the possibility of connecting both nations through direct flights.

The two countries also discussed potential business collaboration in the aviation sector.