There are strong indications that a Middle East carrier, Emirates Airlines, will resume flights in Nigeria within the shortest possible time.
This followed the release of $265 million ticket revenue of foreign operators by the Nigerian authority as part of over $464 million revenue trapped in the country from being repatriated.
Emirates, which had earlier planned to suspend its operations in the country today, stated in a notice sent to travel agents in Nigeria that it would resume four-weekly flights to Nigeria.
The notice, which was obtained from Peacock Travels and Royal AlmondTravels, read in part:
- “Operations to Nigeria will be reinstated with 4-weekly Lagos (LOS) flights EFF.11Sep22.
- “EK783/784 DXB-LOS-DXB on days 1,3,5,7 will operate as per schedule below:
- “EK783 11SEP22-30SEP22 1_3_5_7 DXB DEP 1020 LOS ARR 1500 77WR
- “EK784 11SEP22-30SEP22 1_3_5_7 LOS DEP 1815 DXB ARR 0500+1 77WR
- “NOTE: Lagos flights beyond 30SEP22 will be advised in due course.”
The Dubai-based carrier had announced the suspension of flights to Nigeria effective September 1, 2022, just a few days ago where it linked the development to the inability to repatriate $85m ticket sales proceeds from the country.
The earlier statement read in part, “Emirates Airlines has tried every avenue to address our ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, and we have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution.
“Regrettably, there has been no progress. Therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective September 1, 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers, however, the circumstances are beyond our control at this stage. We will be working to help impacted customers make alternative travel arrangements wherever possible.”
Meanwhile, apart from the Emirates, Delta Ailines has also scheduled termination of of it flights between JFK airport and Lagos, effective October 4, 2022.
The airline disclosed this via a statement, stating that the route suspension was to fit into “the current demand environment.”
