Nigerian passengers on the busy Lagos-London route may soon heave a sigh of relief as the Federal Government of Nigeria is in talks with the UK on how Arik Air will return to the London route.

This was made known by Hadi Sirika, the minister of state for aviation, Nigeria on his Twitter handle, where he shared a picture with the UK minister of aviation.

"With UK’s minister of Aviation, discussing infrastructural support for Aviation security and the return of Arik Air to London route", he said in the tweet.

In February, 2017, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) took over the management of Arik Air due to rising debt profile said to be in excess of NGN300 billion.

Following the takeover by AMCON in February 2017, Arik Air suspended its international operations to London and Johannesburg to enable it focus on West African operations.

Arik Air began flying the London route in November 2008. Until the route was suspended in February, Arik Air operated the service daily using an Airbus A330-200.

Currently, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operate daily between Lagos and London Heathrow while Nigeria's Medview Airlines operates two weekly service between Lagos and London Gatwick.