Emirates Airlines resumes Nigeria operations as first flight since 2022 lands at MMIA

Emirates Airlines has resumed flight operations to Nigeria as Flight EK 783, its first flight from the United Arab Emirates since 2022, touched down at Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) at exactly 3:32 pm on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

The airline’s return to Nigeria follows its earlier announcement to resume operations after resolving a two-year hiatus caused by concerns over trapped funds in the country.

The announcement of the resumption of the UAE’s flag carrier operations to Nigeria was all over social media, with images and videos showing the airline’s aircraft touchdown on Nigerian soil.

Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, confirmed the resumption on Wednesday via his X (formerly Twitter) account.

He shared that he, along with top Emirates Airlines executives and UAE representatives, had boarded an Emirates Airline’s flight on Wednesday morning after spending several days in the UAE for discussions focused on negotiating reciprocal flight rights for Nigerian airlines to operate in the UAE, among other issues.

“Earlier this morning in Dubai, together with Executives of Emirates Airlines and top representatives from the office of the Vice-President of the UAE, we all boarded the Emirates flight to Lagos,” the Minister’s post read in part.

Additionally, Keyamo mentioned that a brief ceremony will take place in Lagos between officials from both governments to mark the return of Emirates Airlines to Nigeria’s aviation sector, as well as the reintroduction of Nigerian flag carriers to the UAE.

In October 2022, Emirates Airlines suspended flights to Nigeria due to difficulties in repatriating trapped funds, despite assurances from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to resolve the foreign exchange issue.

A year later, during a diplomatic visit to the UAE in October 2023, President Bola Tinubu secured an agreement with the UAE President to lift the visa ban on Nigerians and resume flights between both countries.

By May 2024, Emirates Airlines confirmed plans to resume operations to Nigeria on October 1, 2024, as stated by Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer. Recently, Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, announced that the country secured reciprocal flight rights for Nigerian airlines to operate in the UAE.

This followed a meeting in the UAE where Keyamo and his team negotiated a new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) to guide the aviation relationship between the two nations.