Emirates ready to resume flight operations to Nigeria, says Keyamo

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says Emirates Airlines is prepared to resume flight operations to Nigeria.

Keyamo spoke during an interview on Arise television on Monday.

Emirates, had in November 2022, suspended flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate its revenue from the country.

The federal government had, in September 2023, said the airline would resume services in Nigeria — signalling a resolution of the dispute.

The assurance followed a meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mohamed bin Zayed, president of the United Arab Emirates.

But since the meeting and federal government’s announcement, Emirates is yet to begin scheduled flights operations.

Speaking on the issue during the interview, Keyamo said the first announcement over the proposed resolution between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria was hastily done — dismissing claims that it was fake news.

The minister said he has received a letter from the airline confirming that all the issues have been resolved and is prepared to resume flights.

“Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my phone now,” he said.

“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.

“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 prepared to start coming back. It may be before June.”

Speaking on the repatriation of funds, Keyamo noted that there were two sets of funds that were trapped.

He said 100 percent of the funds trapped by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been cleared.

“The two sets of funds that were trapped. Some people got it confused when they said it was fake news,” the minister said.

“They said they have cleared it, others said they have not been cleared. They were the funds that were trapped by the CBN.

“That’s the ones they called the forward sales that they had bidded for but the CBN could not meet its obligation.

“CBN accepted the bid but they couldn’t provide the funds for it. It amounted to about $160 million. That is the government’s own obligation. We have cleared it.

“The other ones are for the commercial banks. When they sell their tickets, their funds are trapped in commercial banks, the commercial bank cannot raise the FX to fund and transfer to them.

“That is not government responsibility but the commercial banks to do something to raise those funds and transfer those funds.

“That is where the confusion came in but government own responsibility regarding the central bank, they have cleared 100% of all the trapped funds.”

Meanwhile, Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, recently began direct flights from Lagos to London, development that since elicited commendations.