The minister of aviation and aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo said has said that Emirates Airlines will resume operations in Nigeria after a hiatus that lasted for almost 18 months. The airline’s resolve to restart flight services to Nigeria followed the resolution of issues pertaining to its trapped funds in Nigeria.
Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Keyamo said the airline would fly the Nigerian route on or before June 2024.
He said the Nigerian government and the United Arab Emirates had resolved issues, and the airline was set to announce the date for its first flight.
Keyamo said the UAE airline sent a letter confirming its readiness to resume flight operations in Nigeria.
“I am announcing to Nigerians for the first time; that I just received a letter from Emirates now.
“Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my table. 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.
“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.
Recall that the airline stopped its Nigeria operations in October 2022 citing it inability to repatriate its trapped $85 billion trapped in the country.
