United Kingdom government is holding talks with locally based charter airline, AirTanker to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The development follows failed talks with Rwandan airline, RwandAir to fly over 4,000 asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Kigali. RwandAir turned down the offer citing global reputation issues.
Now, according to The Guardian, AirTanker is in advanced talks with the UK government.
“AirTanker, a charter airline with Ministry of Defence and RAF contracts, is understood to have been involved in talks about flying people 4,000 miles to Kigali,” The Guardian reported.
The UK government is confident that the bills in support of the deportation will be passed by the House of Commons by the end of April.
Thereafter, deportation flights of asylum seekers to Rwanda will commence before the summer.
The United Kingdom is taking the novel and controversial policy as a deterrent measure to prohibit thousands of illegal asylum seekers travelling to the UK via small boats.
“We make no apology for pursuing bold solutions to stop illegal migration, dismantle the people smuggling gangs and save lives. We have robust operational plans in place to get flights off the ground to Rwanda in spring,” a government official told The Guardian.
Some officials say the bill could become law next week, despite widespread anger over the proposal across the Lords. Labour has indicated that it will not block the bill, with local elections looming and the government hoping for a confrontation over the scheme.
Majority of the asylum seekers are from Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The Guardian
