Emirates Airlines is set to resume flight operations to Nigeria, according to Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development. Keyamo revealed this update in a post on his X page on Wednesday.
Keyamo shared that he received the confirmation during a working visit to the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi, at the UAE Embassy in Abuja. The ambassador handed him a correspondence from Emirates Airlines specifying a definite date for the resumption of their flights to Nigeria.
“Yesterday, I paid a working visit to the Ambassador of the UAE to Nigeria, His Excellency, Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi, at the UAE Embassy in Abuja. He handed me a correspondence from Emirates Airlines indicating a definite date for their resumption of flights to Nigeria,” Keyamo stated. “That date will be formally announced by Emirates Airlines in a matter of days.”
Emirates Airlines had suspended its flight operations to Nigeria in October 2022 due to the inability to repatriate funds trapped in the country.
This marked the airline’s second suspension that year, following an initial suspension in August 2022. The October suspension was attributed to $85 million in revenue being trapped in Nigeria.
On November 19, 2023, Keyamo had indicated that Emirates Airlines would soon announce the exact date for the resumption of flight operations to Nigeria.
He also mentioned that the federal government is working on finalizing some details concerning the resumption.
