With USD85 million of its revenue withheld in Nigeria, Emirates (EK, Dubai International) is calling Abuja's bluff and will stop flying to the West African country from September 1, 2022. The Emirati carrier currently serves Abuja 7x weekly and Lagos 11x weekly, the ch-aviation schedules module shows.
This comes after there was no progress in "its considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant Nigerian authorities for their urgent intervention". Emirates had tried "every avenue" to address ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, it announced in a statement. "Regrettably, there has been no progress."
The move was no surprise after the carrier reduced its frequencies to Nigeria recently, warning the government that its Nigerian operation was becoming unviable due to accumulating operational losses of USD10 million per month and unremitted funds.
Nigeria is withholding USD464 million of total airline funds, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). "This is airline money, and its repatriation is protected by international agreements in which Nigeria participates. IATA's many warnings that failure to restore timely repatriation will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity are proving true with the withdrawal of Emirates from the market. Airlines cannot be expected to fly if they cannot realise the revenue from ticket sales. Loss of air connectivity harms the local economy, hurts investor confidence, and impacts jobs and people's livelihoods. It's time for the Government of Nigeria to prioritise the release of airline funds before more damage is done," IATA said in a statement.
Emirates said it would re-evaluate its decision should there be any positive reaction from Nigeria in the coming days. "We remain keen to serve Nigeria, and our operations provide much-needed connectivity for Nigerian travellers, providing access to trade and tourism opportunities to Dubai and our broader network of over 130 destinations."
"We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers; however, the circumstances are beyond our control at this stage. We will be working to help impacted customers make alternative travel arrangements wherever possible," it said.
