By Abiola Olawale
Emirates Airlines has announced its decision to recommence flight operations in Nigeria on October 1, 2024, after two years of suspension of its activities in the country.
The airline made this announcement via its official X account on Thursday.
The service will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER. EK783 will depart Dubai at 0945hrs, arriving in Lagos at 1520hrs; the return flight EK784 will leave Lagos at 1730hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0510hrs the next day.
The tweet reads: “We’re back, Nigeria! We’ll be resuming services to Lagos from 1 October 2024, and we can’t wait to offer unrivalled connectivity to Dubai and beyond to over 140 cities.”
Speaking also, the Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Airline, Adnan Kazim, confirmed that Emirates will operate a daily service between Lagos and Dubai, providing passengers from Nigeria’s largest city with enhanced options and connectivity through Dubai.
He noted that tickets are currently available for booking on emirates.com or through travel agents.
Kazim described the resumption of Emirates’ operations in Nigeria as a significant expansion of its network. He said the airline now operates to 19 destinations across Africa, providing a total of 157 weekly flights departing from Dubai.
He said: “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and we hope to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to our 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,” he said.
The New Diplomat recalls that Emirates Airline suspended its flight operations to Nigeria in October 2022. The airline said the decision was hinged on its inability to repatriate funds held in the country.
The airline said about $85 million in revenue was purportedly trapped in Nigeria.
It would be recalled also that in April, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had said the Federal Government is working with the authorities of Emirates Airline for the resumption of the airline service in the country.
The minister noted that President Bola Tinubu played a significant role in resolving the frosty relations between the two countries.
According to the minister, the Nigerian government and the United Arab Emirates have resolved issues, and the airline is set to announce the date for its first flight.
