By kawaekwune Jeffrey
Two years after suspending flight operations in Nigeria, Emirates Airlines on Tuesday resumed its services, landing at Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
The resumption comes after a long standoff over the airlines inability to repatriate trapped funds reportedly amounting to $85 million. Emirates’ flight EK 783 touched down at the old terminal of MMIA at 3:32 pm, marking the airline’s return to Nigerian airspace.
A Senior First Officer at Emirates, Moha Madugu, expressed his excitement about the return flight to Lagos, saying: “A very special day for me today, I have the honour of operating our inaugural return flight to Lagos, Nigeria. Today I will be flying both the Emirates and Nigerian flag very high. Thank you, Emirates. A flight time of slightly over eight hours today. #EkoOniBaje.”
It would be recalled that in November 2022, Emirates suspended operations due to what it considered as difficulties in accessing funds stuck in Nigeria. This followed an earlier suspension of its flights in August 2022, as the airline struggled with similar issues.
A travel analyst, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo, spoke extensively on the challenges the suspension created. He noted that the withdrawal of Emirates, which operated 21 flights per week, affected up to 90% of passengers who traveled beyond Dubai to other global destinations.
According to him: “The departure of Emirates from their routes affected or contributed to the high rate of ticket fares on international routes. There was a large chunk of seats that was taken away by Emirates, and that reduced competition. The few airlines left capitalised on the fact that Emirates suspended operations.”
He further emphasized the broad impact the suspension had on Nigeria’s aviation industry, saying: “Emirates pulled out and it affected the industry. There was a loss of revenue in the country’s aviation eco-chain. Everybody had that hit because Emirates was not there, from the agencies to the taxis, to the service providers, even the catering, everybody felt the pain of their departure.”
The New Diplomat reports that Emirates’ decision to return signals a hopeful revival of competition and services in the aviation industry, which had suffered from reduced competition and skyrocketing ticket prices.
