Emirates Airlines, which suspended flights to Nigeria over a spat between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) occasioned by controversy over Rapid Antigen Testing (RDT) prior to departure of Emirates flights from Nigeria, has announced that it would return to the lucrative Dubai-Nigerian routes come February 28, 2021.
The airline in a statement declared: “In line with government’s directives, passenger services from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) to Dubai are temporarily suspended until 28 February 2021. Customers from both Abuja and Lagos will not be accepted for travel prior to or including this date.”
The UAE airline, however, regretted the inconvenience caused, even as it asked affected passengers to contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking.
“Emirates remains committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services to Dubai for our customers when conditions allow.”
The UAE and Nigeria were disagreed over the introduction of Rapid Antigen Testing (RDT) on passengers from Nigeria four hours prior to departure.
Aggrieved by the action of the airline, the Nigerian government through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) slammed the carrier with a ban.
Less than five hours after the action, the NCAA lifted the ban after extracting commitment and agreement to suspend the action from the carrier.
The NCAA said the carrier’s suspension of Rapid Antigen Testing (RDT) prior to departure of Emirates flights from Nigeria with immediate effect until such a time that the required infrastructure is made available by the Nigerian government.
That may not have gone down well with the Arab carrier as it tried to force the hands of the Nigerian government to accept its rapid test policy.
The Nigerian authorities are going by the agreement extracted from them to suspend the exercise such a time that the required infrastructure is made available by the Nigerian government.
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