FG to issue flight resumption date for Emirates Airline

THE Federal Government has stated that Emirates Airline will resume its flight operations to and fro Nigeria soon, as the outcome of its ongoing discussion with the government will be announced within the next two days.

The Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Musa Nuhu, made this known while speaking at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on Covid-19 in Abuja.

“As regards the issue of Emirates Airline’s resumption of flights to Nigeria, the PSC deliberated extensively on this matter and the gap has been significantly closed between the position of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” Nuhu said.

Reports have recently emerged saying that the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had refused to approve the resumption of flight operations to Lagos and Abuja for Emirates Airline due to the insistence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that only the Middle East airline would be allowed to operate to Dubai from Nigeria.

It should be recalled that the Federal Government had, in March 2021, banned the airline from operating in the country due to its continuous refusal to fly passengers without a pre-boarding rapid diagnostic test.