The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has announced that Emirates Airline will resume operations in Nigeria by June 2024 at the latest.
Keyamo disclosed this while speaking on Arise Television on Monday.
The minister highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s significant contribution in resolving the strained relations between the two countries.
As per the minister, the Nigerian government and the United Arab Emirates have settled their differences, and the airline is preparing to announce its inaugural flight date. Keyamo mentioned that the UAE airline sent a letter confirming its readiness to recommence flight operations in Nigeria.
“Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my phone now. They have gone through all the gamut, and they are ready to come back. They will announce the date because to restart a route, they have to get an aircraft for that route,” he said.
In November 2023, following the Dubai Airshow, Keyamo revealed that he had discussions with representatives of Emirates Airlines regarding a potential resumption.
According to him, the airline was working on the small details and would announce the exact date of their resumption of the flights.
Keyamo also stated, “I am announcing to Nigerians for the first time; that I just received a letter from Emirates now. The letter is with me. I have a hard copy thanking you for all the efforts we made. Mr. President was the showman here. He was the one who pushed for it.
He made my job easy because he went there, and had a diplomatic shuttle to resolve all the issues. That was why I said the last announcement was hasty and not fake news. They will announce the date for their next flight. We have received a letter confirming that all the issues have been resolved and that we are prepared to start coming back. It may be before June,” the minister said.
Apparently, Emirates Airline suspended its flight operations to Nigeria in October 2022 due to challenges in repatriating funds held in the country. The airline cited the $85 billion revenue trapped in Nigeria as the reason for the October suspension.
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