Emirates Airlines will soon resume flight services to and from Nigeria according to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN.
The minister who was at the Dubai Airshow disclosed via his official X handle on Sunday that the long-awaited Emirates flight date of services resumption date will be announced soon.
Emirates has since suspended flight operations into Nigeria because they were not able to get their funds from sales of tickets.
On the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow in Dubai last week, I met with the top echelon of Emirates Airlines and we continued very warm and fruitful discussions towards the resumption of flights from Dubai to Nigeria, an effort which was championed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT
We are presently working on the small details and the airline will soon announce the exact date of their resumption of the flights.
Recall that Emirates Airlines suspended flight operations to Nigeria in October last year due to their inability to repatriate their ticket revenue trapped in Nigeria. According to The PUNCH report, about 90 per cent of foreign airlines’ $783m trapped funds were unpaid.
According to data from the International Air Transport Association, as of August 2023, Nigeria accounted for a substantial $783m of airlines’ blocked funds.
Despite recent efforts to address the situation, the airlines said a significant portion of those funds remained inaccessible to them.
