Emirates Airlines has revealed that it has suspend operations into Nigeria indefinitely and that it took effect from October 29, 2022.
A statement by the airline yesterday obtained by AbelNews, informed that the Dubai based had no option but to suspend flights to and from Nigeria to mitigate against further losses moving forward.
The airline explained that its decision to suspend flights in and out of Nigeria became necessary as it has attended multiple hearings with the Nigerian government and officially communicated its position.
It added that it has made its position very clear to prevent the untenable situation, including a plan for the progressive release of funds which included the repatriation and receipt of at least 80 per cent of its remaining blocked funds by the end of October 2022, in addition to providing a guaranteed mechanism to avoid future repatriation accumulation challenges and delays.
“Emirates has continued to actively seek a solution for the repatriation of the remainder of its blocked funds in Nigeria. We were encouraged by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts of reviewing our request, and considered that this critical issue would be swiftly resolved with the subsequent clearance of our remaining funds.
“However, Emirates has yet to receive an allocation of our blocked funds to be repatriated. Without the timely repatriation of the funds and a mechanism in place to ensure that future repatriation of Emirates’ funds do not accumulate in any way, the backlog will continue to grow, and we simply cannot meet our operational costs nor maintain the commercial viability of our operations in Nigeria.”
The airline said it hope to reach a mutual resolution with the Nigerian government about the repatriation of blocked funds to enable the resumption of operations and connectivity for travelers and businesses.
Emirates had in August suspended flights to Nigeria over its $85 million blocked revenue, a situation that forced the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)to release $265 million of funds belonging to foreign airlines.
CBN again released $120 million to the airlines recently.
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