War Without End : Emirates Suspends Nigerian Flights Indefinitely

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier, Emirates, has suspended its flights to Nigeria indefinitely, citing its trapped funds in Nigeria.

It also said it was yet to get its allocation from the $260m released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to clear part of the blocked funds belonging to foreign airlines.

Daily Trust reports that Emirates had suspended its flight on September 1 but reinstated it after the CBN announced the release of $260m to clear part of the outstanding funds now estimated to over $700m.

Daily Trust reports that this flight suspension occurred a week after the UAE authorities suspended visa issuance to Nigerians visiting Dubai, which has further reduced the load factors of airlines.

It said, “However, Emirates has yet to receive an allocation of our blocked funds to be repatriated. Without the timely repatriation of the funds and a mechanism in place to ensure that future repatriation of Emirates’ funds do not accumulate in any way, the backlog will continue to grow, and we simply cannot meet our operational costs nor maintain the commercial viability of our operations in Nigeria.