1st September, 2022
Emirates Airlines has announced its decision to reinstate operations of its flights, which include inbound flights (EK783) from Dubai to Lagos and outbound flights (EK784) from Lagos to Dubai.
The flights will resume with its Boeing 777 effective Sunday, September 11th, 2022.
This comes after the Federal Government of Nigeria said it had released over $265 million to the airlines to enable them to repatriate their trapped funds in the country.
Last month, Emirates suspended all flights from Nigeria, citing their inability to repatriate the money accruing from tickets.
In his reaction, Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa & Middle East, said, “IATA welcomes the Nigerian government’s release of $265m of airlines’ blocked funds.”
“We will continue to engage with it on expediting the release of the remaining amount so that airlines can continue providing the connectivity Nigeria requires without disrupting and harming its economy and jobs.”
“We encourage other countries, in Africa and elsewhere, that are blocking the repatriation of foreign airlines’ funds to follow Nigeria’s example and release the money they are withholding.”
“Without it, airlines cannot afford to serve those countries. This would be detrimental to the people and businesses that depend on the market connectivity those airlines provide. ”
“IATA speaks and leads the industry on matters of common interest. While IATA cannot speak for individual airlines, we hope the release of blocked funds, with assurances and safeguards to prevent a recurrence, will persuade affected carriers to continue serving Nigeria. “