Emirates Airlines resumes flights to Nigeria after two-year suspended operation

NIGERIA — Emirates Airlines has restarted daily passenger flights to Nigeria, connecting Dubai and Lagos cities after a two-year hiatus.  

Emirates halted its flights to Nigeria on October 29, 2022, due to trapped funds and the government’s inability to provide dollars for foreign carriers to take as their profits.  

The federal government and the United Arab Emirates agreed on reciprocal rights, as world mega carrier Emirates Airlines was set to resume operations. 

This indicates that Nigerian carrier Air Peace, which hitherto operated the route, can also resume flight operations to the Middle East country.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, and the UAE aviation authorities agreed to a new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).

“This has been a long-awaited moment, and we are excited to resume operations to Lagos, helping reconnect travellers seamlessly to and through Dubai,” Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Airlines said in a press release.

The new daily flight from Dubai to Lagos, EK783, is scheduled to leave Dubai at 09:45 local time and reach Lagos at 15:20 local time. 

The return flight, EK784, departs Lagos at 17:30 local time and arrives back in Dubai at 05:10 local time the following day. The new route is operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. 

Dubai-Lagos service has been scheduled to optimize connections to and from key locations in Europe, the US, the Far East and the wider Middle East, making it easier to travel to and from Nigeria. Emirates will also help travellers from Nigeria with 48-hour and 96-hour Dubai visa applications. 

“We are pleased to welcome Emirates back to Nigeria,” Festus Keyamo, Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development of Nigeria, said.

“Emirates has become a global brand, and Nigeria, being the most populous black nation in the world, is the sure destination for all major airlines in the world.”  

As a major African economic hub, Nigeria and the UAE have built strong bilateral trade relations over the years, headlined by Lagos as the nation’s commercial centre.

With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further bolster the trade relationship by offering more than 300 tonnes of bellyhold cargo capacity, in and out of Lagos every week.

The airline had said that Emirates SkyCargo would support Nigerian businesses by exporting their goods via its state-of-the-art hub in Dubai, into key markets such as the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Bahrain, among others with key anticipated commodities such as Kola Nuts, food and beverages, and urgent courier material.

Emirates SkyCargo will also import vital goods such as pharmaceuticals and electronics as well as general cargo from key markets such as the UAE, India and Hong Kong.

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