Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)- Emirates Airlines has suspended flight operations in and out of Nigeria effective September 1, 2022, due to its inability to repatriate funds.
The decision comes after Emirates Airlines announced last month that it would reduce flights to Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, the carrier said it could not access its funds amounting to US$85 million withheld in the country with the stuck funds rising by over US$10 million every month.
“We have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution. Regrettably, there has been no progress. Therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective September 1, 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market.
We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers. However, the circumstances are beyond our control at this stage,” read a statement from Emirates Airlines.
However, Nigeria’s Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika, said this was not the first time Nigeria was holding onto huge amounts of revenue belonging to foreign air carriers citing that the trapped funds will be released.
“In the past, Nigeria has demonstrated the capacity and the willingness and fairness to resolve this type of issue. It happened when we took over power in 2015. There were lots of blocked funds, about US$600 million at that time. It was at a time when the country was in a recession and there were dwindling revenues coming to the country, yet we honoured our obligation to pay out all those blocked funds.
Unfortunately, due to many factors and reasons, the monies piled back up. The government is working hard to ensure that these monies are released, not only for Emirates but all airlines affected. Mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that this does not occur in the future,” said the Minister.
Meanwhile, Kamil Alawadhi, the regional (Africa and the Middle East) vice-president of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the body was disappointed with the issue.
“This is airlines’ money, and its repatriation is protected by international agreements in which Nigeria participates.
IATA’s many warnings that failure to restore timely repatriation will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity are proving true with the withdrawal of Emirates from the market.
Airlines cannot be expected to fly if they cannot realize revenue from ticket sales. Loss of air connectivity harms the local economy, hurts investor confidence and impacts jobs and people’s livelihoods. It’s time for the government of Nigeria to prioritize the release of airline funds before more damage is done,” said Alawadhi.
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