Emirates Airlines will resume flights to Nigeria before the end of June 2024, the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Festus Keyamo has said.
The minister, who spoke when he appeared on Arise News Channel on Monday morning, confirmed that he had received a letter from Emirates Airlines on the return of the carrier.
Recall hat in 2022, Emirates stopped flying to Nigeria due to difficulties in repatriating their earnings in US dollars. However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN);had released most of the funds, allowing the airline to resume operations.
This was as he explained that the initial announcement made in October 2023 about the proposed resolution of the dispute between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was not false information, but rather premature.
He said: “Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my phone now. They are ready to come back. They will announce the date because to restart a route, they have to get an aircraft for that route.
“I am announcing to Nigerians for the first time; that I just received a letter from Emirates now. The letter is with me. I have a hard copy thanking us for all the efforts we made. Mr. President was the showman here. He was the one who pushed for it. He made my job easy because he went there, and had a diplomatic shuttle to resolve all the issues.’
“That was why I said the last announcement was hasty and not fake news. They will announce the date for their next flight. We have received a letter confirming that all the issues have been resolved and prepared to start coming back. It may be before June.”
