EMIRATES Airlines has announced that it will resume flight services to Nigeria from October 1, 2024, after over a year it suspended operations in the country, due to difficulties encountered in repatriating trapped funds.
In a statement published on its website, the airline announced that it would resume daily serviceS between Lagos and Dubai, “offering customers more choice and connectivity from Nigeria’s largest city to and through Dubai”.
“The services will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER, while the EK783 will depart Dubai at 0945 hours, arriving in Lagos at 1520 hours and the return flight, EK784 will leave Lagos at 1730 hours and arrive Dubai at 0510 hours the next day”, according to the flight schedule released by the airline in the statement.
Also according to the statement, tickets can now be booked on the airline’s website or via travel agents. The announcement by the airline came after Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, paid a working visit to the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Nigeria in Abuja.
It was reported that during the visit, the envoy, Mr. Al-Shamsi handed a correspondence from Emirates Airline, indicating a definite date of resumption of flights to Nigeria. “That date will be formally announced by Emirates Airlines in a matter of days”, he was quoted as saying. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer said the airline is excited to resume services to Nigeria.
Kazim said the Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and that the airline hopes to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to its network of over 140 destinations. “We thank the Nigerian government for their partnership and support in re-establishing this route and we look forward to welcoming passengers back onboard,” the statement quoted him saying.
Recall that in November 2022, Emirates suspended flights to Nigeria. It blamed it on its inability to repatriate its revenue from the country. At the time, the airline said it had communicated its position to the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). “Under these extraordinary circumstances, Emirates had no option but to suspend flights to/from Nigeria from 29 October 2022 to mitigate against further losses moving forward”, the airline management said.
