NATIONAL: FG suspends outbound Emirate flights

THE Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has slapped  a 72-hour suspension on outbound flights of Emirates Airlines from Nigeria.

This is contained in a circular issued on February 4.

According to the circular the suspension followed  a violation of guidelines by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19

It noted that the airline is accused of airlifting passengers from Nigeria using rapid antigen tests done at laboratories which are not approved by regulatory authorities.

The circular read, “Based on the foregoing and to enable the Nigerian government to put in place the needed infrastructure and logistics for COVID-19 RDT testing for departing passengers, the PTF has directed that Emirates Airlines should either accept passengers without RDT pending when the infrastructure and logistics are put in place or suspend its flights to and from Nigeria until such a time when the required infrastructure and logistics are fully established and implemented.

“Emirates Airlines has not been in compliance with the two options given by the PTF as records obtained from Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) indicates that Emirates Airlines operated the flights from both Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.”

This is coming on the heels of fresh travel conditions for Nigerian passengers from Dubai Airports, operators of Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.

Part of the conditions required passengers to present negative COVID-19 certificate from PCR conducted within 72 hours of the date of departure.

This was announced in a notice titled, ‘Dubai Travel Protocol Update –Travel From Nigeria’.

It read, “Kindly be advised that effective from 01 February 2021, the following conditions must be met for travel from Nigeria:

“All passengers are required to obtain negative COVID-19 certificate. The PCR should be conducted within 72 hours of the date of departure.

“All passengers are required to conduct a rapid COVID-19 test and obtain a negative result within four hours of their departure time.

“Passengers must travel directly from Nigeria to Dubai. No passenger may enter Dubai from any other country/station if they have visited or transited from Nigeria in the last 14 days.”