Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, announced on Monday that Emirates had concluded plans to resume flight operations to Nigeria before June.

Keyamo disclosed this on Arise TV, saying that he had received a letter from Emirates on the return of the carrier.

Stakeholders in the aviation sector have said that the strengthening of the naira and the resumption of flights by Emirates will cause ticket fares to reduce drastically.

Airfares from Nigeria to other countries have in recent times seen a significant drop, following the appreciation of naira and the competition arising from Air Peace’s commencement of Lagos-London route.

The pressure on the foreign exchange market has eased in recent weeks after the naira fell to record lows.

The large naira depreciation caused by the FX reforms that started last year led to a steep rise in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) rate for ticket sales.

Last week, the IATA rate for ticket sales in Nigeria dropped from almost N1,800/$ a few months ago to N1,395/$.

The drop in the rate quickly saw the prices of tickets drop across several destinations.

A one-way ticket from Lagos to London on British Airways that was sold for N3 million (Economy Class) and N11 million (Business Class) cost N1.7 million and N6.8 million, respectively.

On Lufthansa, the price of a one-way ticket from Lagos to London dropped from N3 million (Economy) and N9 million (Business) to N2 million and N7 million, respectively.

On Virgin Atlantic, the price for Economy, Economy Premium and Business Class fell from N2 million, N5 million and N12 million to N1.5 million, N3 million and N6 million, respectively.

Susan Akporiaye, president of National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), said that when the naira was as low as N1,850 to a dollar, the ticket inventory available on the Lagos-London route was between N5 million and N6 million.

“The rate of exchange determines the price of tickets. Now that the rate of exchange has dropped, BA and Virgin Atlantic are charging as low as N1.1 million and N1.2 million for a return ticket from Lagos to London. As the naira gains more strength, fares will continue to drop. Air Peace will also have to further reduce fares; if not, they will not be able to compete on the route,” Akporiaye said.

She said airlines also resumed promo fares because of Air Peace, adding that if Emirates resumes flights into Nigeria, tickets from Nigeria would further drop.

She said: “Promo tickets for Virgin are N900,000. Egypt Air is also doing a 15 percent discount as a promo. Tickets are priced in dollars. If the rate of exchange comes down to N700 to a dollar, then fares will come to as low as N500,000.

“Emirates is the master of price war because they have the money. Emirates, despite suspending flights in Nigeria for over two years, has been paying their staff and keeping their office space. Emirates will come back and slash ticket prices to London. This is when the price war will begin. Emirates don’t depend on sales of tickets to survive.”

Kingsley Nwokoma, president of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, told BusinessDay that a substantial amount of trapped funds have been paid to foreign airlines and that was why foreign airlines released lower fares.

“The reason why fares went up in the first place was because low inventories were shut down. Now the government has shown enough goodwill to make payments; so it is in the interest of airlines to also show some goodwill to Nigerians by making low inventories available. To the best of my knowledge, CBN has cleared all the backlog; the only outstanding payments are the ones with the commercial banks,” Nwokoma said.

He said it was at the same time CBN cleared the trapped funds that the naira gained strength. This, according to him, made fares drop.

“Fortunately, all these happened the same time Air Peace commenced its Lagos-London flight,” he added.

He said the resumption of Emirates flights will mean more competition on international routes and this will mean more choices for passengers.

Last year, IATA disclosed that Nigeria owed $812.2 million out of $2.27 billion trapped funds, making it the country with the highest trapped funds globally.

The top five countries that accounted for 68.0 percent of blocked funds were Nigeria ($812.2 million), Bangladesh ($214.1 million), Algeria ($196.3 million), Pakistan ($188.2 million) and Lebanon ($141.2 million).

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The minister made this known on Sunday in a post on his X page.

Keyamo said he spoke with representatives of Emirates Airline regarding their Dubai to Nigeria flights on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow in Dubai last week.

He said the federal government is working on some details concerning the resumption.

“On the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow in Dubai last week, I met with the top echelon of Emirates Airlines and we continued very warm and fruitful discussions towards the resumption of flights from Dubai to Nigeria, an effort which was championed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

“We are presently working on the small details and the airline will soon announce the exact date of their resumption of the flights.”

At the biennial airshow event, Keyamo said he also visited pavilions of leading aviation and aerospace industries around the world.

Keyamo added that he took a valuable cue from the event towards ongoing efforts at “organising Nigeria’s own version of the Airshow in 2024 in Lagos, Nigeria in collaboration with the private sector”.

In October 2022, Emirates Airline suspended flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate funds trapped in the country.

The airline suspended operations twice last year, with the first in August 2022.

Emirates Airline said the suspension in October was due to its $85 million revenue trapped in Nigeria.

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Since 2021, UAE and Nigeria have been engaging in a diplomatic row over issues involving flight allocations and travel bans.

In December 2021, the UAE banned airlines from airlifting Nigerian passengers into the Emirates.

The UAE had claimed that the ban was due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Before the travel ban, UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) had approved a slot of three weekly flights from Nigeria to Sharjah Airport. The single flight was approved for Air Peace.

In retaliation to the UAE’s treatment of Air Peace, the federal government dropped the Emirates’ slots from 21 to one.

The move made the Dubai-based airline suspend all its flights to Nigeria.

In October 2022, the UAE imposed a visa ban on Nigerians after a diplomatic row.

On Monday, the UAE lifted the visa ban imposed on Nigerian travellers.

The decision was reached after President Bola Tinubu met with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE president, in Abu Dhabi.

Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesperson, said in a statement that Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to “immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria without any further delay”.

Reacting to the development, Keyamo in a post on his X page said Tinubu’s “Midas touch” has made his job easier.

“Special thanks to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT for personally leading our delegation to end this impasse with the UAE,” Keyamo said.

“All credit goes to him. His Midas touch during the discussion was crucial. He just made my job easier!”

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The test is not the same as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test required to travel abroad.

In a travel protocol update, the airline said effective February 1, the tests will be carried out at the airports four hours before departure.

PCR and antigen tests are commonly used to test for the presence of the coronavirus.

Antigen tests look for protein on the surface of the coronavirus to ascertain its presence while PCR tests collect genetic material called RNA that instructs the virus to make these proteins.

Passengers are required to pay N36,800 for the test at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, and N25,800 at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on Abuja.

The tests will be conducted at the Mobi health booth in the check-in areas of both airports.

“In addition to the COVID-19 PCR test certificate required for transit through Dubai and final destination, passengers are required to carry out a rapid COVID-19 antigen test within four hours of departure effective February 1, 2021,” the update read.

“Facilities for antigen testing are available at the Lagos and Abuja international airport departure levels.

“Please be advised that passengers are to arrive at the airport to carry out the Rapid COVID-19 antigen tests first before check-in. Results will be out within 15 to 20 minutes. Upon having a negative rapid test result, passengers may proceed to the check-in counter.”

This development is coming barely a week after the presidential task force on COVID-19 announced that the virus strain first reported in the UK has been found in Nigeria.

An investigation by TheCable had revealed that ready-made negative COVID-19 tests are being sold to passengers in Nigeria without going through the mandatory tests as stipulated by the presidential task force.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities have already banned transit flights conveying Nigerians from its airports while Nigerians on transit flights operated by UAE carriers are confined to the airports.

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Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, disclosed this via a post on his Twitter handle on Friday.

The ban will take effect on September 21, 2020.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had, in a memo earlier in September, included Emirates in the list of approved airlines for international flights for both Abuja and Lagos airports.

But the minister said the decision to reverse the approval was taken after a meeting of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 with European Union ambassadors on Friday.

Sirika also said there were discussions on the ban on Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.

“The PTF sub committee met today with EU Ambassadors to discuss Lufthansa, Air France/KLM ban. The meeting progressed well. Emirates Airlines’s situation was reviewed & they are consequently included in the list of those not approved, with effect from Monday the 21st Sept. 2020,” the minister wrote.

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The evacuees landed in Abuja on Friday, June via Emirates flight.

Shortly before the arrival of UAE evacuees, another batch of 71 had arrived from Europe and Pakistan. The latest arrival was announced via a tweet by the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).

The tweet stated: “300 Stranded Nigerians in UAE landed in Abuja, Nigeria today, Fri 19th June 2020 via emirates.

“All Evacuees are to go on Compulsory 14 days SELF ISOLATION according to the new Protocol by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.”

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It was learnt that for three weeks, the ministry has not been able to tidy up the arrangement for the evacuation of the 230 Nigerians.

But most of the evacuees, who allegedly paid about N242,000 per head, could not understand why the ministry allowed them to book Emirates flight without any solid arrangement.

Worried by continued failure to secure flight clearance, the Emirates Airlines yesterday canceled the flight.

Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have however put the blame on the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for not concluding arrangements, including flight clearance, to repatriate the affected Nigerians.

According to investigation, the 230 returnees had been scheduled for flight EK0783 from Dubai (1020) to Lagos by 1500 on April 26, 2020.

The Nigerian Ambassador to UAE, Mallam Mohammed Dansanta Rimi, had since April 5 issued COVID-19 Travel Advisory to Nigerians on the Emirates.

It was also confirmed that Rimi had also opened a line of communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the list of Nigerians willing to return home.

The initial positive response of the ministry made the Nigerian Embassy in Abu Dhabi to ask the 230 returnees to pay for their tickets.

But as at April 22, there was no commitment from the Federal Government on flight clearance for the Emirates aircraft bringing in the stranded Nigerians.

It was gathered that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not complete the three-week process.

In a note to the Nigerian Embassy in the UAE on April 22, the Emirates airline desk officer said: “Based on the list provided by you, our office has been doing the call outs. As of now, we have approximately 230 passengers confirmed to travel. There are some more passengers coordinating through Debbie.

In the meantime, I would like to bring to your notice of a very critical issue to ensure we have this flight operated as planned.

“Our office in Lagos has been notified by a member of the Nigerian Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 (Dr. Haggai) that your good office (Nigerian Embassy in UAE) has to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria to ensure that the protocol for quarantine and other required measures are in place prior to the flight.

“We are assuming that you have the necessary approvals and arrangements in place in Lagos for us to carry these passengers.

“Could you please confirm back to us that all arrangements as required by the Nigerian government are in order for the flight EK 783/26APR that is scheduled to depart Dubai at 1020AM. Appreciate if you could confirm this to us by end of 23APR2020. Thank you.”

Based on the concerns of the airline, the Embassy on April 22, 2020 communicated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows: “Find attached letter from Emirates confirming if the Ministry is liaising with the appropriate authorities for clearance/approval for the impending flight amid the lock down in Lagos. Awaiting your response, please.”

As at Friday (yesterday) when there was no official flight clearance for the 230 Nigerians, the Emirates Airlines aborted the trip.

It sent a notice to the returnees, saying: “Flight cancelled. The following flight(s) have been cancelled in the light of current health concerns globally. Flight details: EK0783-Dubai International Airport (Origin), Murtala Muhammed Airport, LOS (Destination) on Sunday April 26th. Please contact your travel agent for further assistance with your booking. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Although some of the stranded Nigerians have tried to reach out to the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, she only replied on Twitter as follows: “Like I said, final decision is with the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema. The mission will reach you once they get directives from the Minister.”

As at the time of filing this report, the fate of the stranded 230 Nigerians was unknown with many claiming that they had spent their savings to buy tickets.

It was learnt that each of the passengers coughed out about N242,000 for the one-way ticket based on the fares contained in the COVID-19 Travel Advisory Update by the Consular and Immigration Section of the Nigerian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The advisory reads in part: “Sequel to the Mission’s travel advisory notice dated 9th April, 2020, this is to inform members of the Nigeria community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) requiring emergency evacuation during this challenging period of Coronavirus pandemic that Emirates Airlines is making arrangements to operate a special flight to repatriate Nigerians from Dubai to Lagos tentatively on 26th April, 2020, and this will be subject to obtaining necessary clearance from the relevant Nigerian authorities.

“In view of the foregoing, ticket fare is still at AED 2,500 for economy class (one-way) and AED 5,000 (one-way) for business class while passenger (s) with existing Emirates ticket will have to pay the fare difference based on the current value of their tickets.

“It should be reiterated that the airline will operate the flight subject to available number of interested passengers. Enquires can be made directly to the airline call Centre by calling 600 555555. In addition, passengers will be required to undergo COVID-19 test at Dubai International Airport and on arrival in Nigeria.

“While expressing the Embassy’s readiness to respond to further enquiries, please note, information earlier received are compiled and forwarded to the Nigerian Government for appropriate action. As soon as firm arrangement has been made, all concerned persons will be notified accordingly. “

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The Dubai-based airline is rather demanding a credit card mode of payment from passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The development, which caught many passengers unawares, caused some of them to be left behind, despite having bought tickets weeks earlier.

Some passengers were turned back by the airline’s officials at the counter for already buying tickets in naira, they also ensured that a passenger who had earlier checked in for the 5:55 p.m. Lagos-Dubai Sunday flight never boarded the plane.

The Emirates office in Lagos Monday confirmed that the credit card mode of payment is indeed the company’s policy, though it would not explain the rationale.

An official of the airline, Babatunde Yahaya, who explained the new policy to angry passengers on Sunday said the action was in line with a memo issued to them, demanding that any ticket issued on Emirates, for passengers travelling from Nigeria to Brazil, “must be by credit card and not cash.” Yahaya said the directive was issued on September 22 and took effect immediately.

Reading from a sheet of paper to the evicted passengers, he said: “Any ticket issued on Emirates Airline from Nigeria to Brazil must be paid for with credit card and not cash.“The credit card holder must be verified, preferably not his passport. And even when issued by a third party, the credit card holder must be verified and his credit card ascertained.”

One of the affected passengers, Obinna, said it was “humiliation of the highest order,” and so shameful that such is happening on Nigerian soil.“This is a ticket bought almost two weeks ago from Emirates and they collected cash.

Besides the fact that it is illegal to reject it for whatever reason, why did they collect the naira when they wanted a credit card? This is so disgraceful and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Obinna said.

Another Brazil-bound passenger said it amounted to cheating the Nigerian system to insist that a ticket must be paid for with a credit card because the fares would be deducted in dollar equivalent and at the official exchange rate.

“This is sheer discrimination against Nigerians that ordinarily would have been taken up in a sane clime. The ticket was purchased even before the date the so-called memo was issued. So, why did they collect the fares when they knew they would not honour them?” the passenger said on the condition of anonymity.

The airline, however, denied discrimination against anyone, citing a “company policy” that was not adhered to by travel agencies. The Emirates’ office in Lagos said the passengers affected bought their tickets some days before the scheduled travel, and had done so through travel agencies.

Early this year, some foreign airlines were allegedly demanding that tickets be purchased with foreign currencies or from overseas, in the wake of dollar scarcity and foreign airlines’ funds getting stuck in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) then warned all airlines to desist from the act which it described as a flagrant contravention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s “prerequisite guiding cost of products or services in Nigeria.”

The apex bank insisted that “pricing of any product shall continue to be in naira only and it is illegal to price or denominate the cost of any product or service (visible or invisible) in any foreign currency.”

Reacting to the latest development, Spokesman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, said the action was contrary to the provisions of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and other countries as contained in Article 8 (4).

According to Adurogboye, the agreement provides for ticket payment either in local currency or official currency of the airline’s host country, but as preferred by the passenger.

“You (airlines) are duty bound to accept any mode of payment that the traveller chooses. And you don’t turn them down. If you do, then that is where we come in.”

He added that the regulatory authority was not unaware of complaints against foreign airlines operating in the country and had been appealing to them instead of going punitive.

According to Adurogboye, many of the airlines still have their funds stuck in Nigeria amidst dollar scarcity, noting that it would be most unfair to wield the big stick when they violate rules.

He assured that NCAA would investigate the development with Emirates and act accordingly.

*The Guardian

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The wedding was solemnised Friday at the marriage registry of Auchi Etsako West Local government Council of Edo state.

A reception ceremony was later held at the governor’s Iyamho country home.

Iara Forte, a Cape Verde national, and former air hostess at Emirate Airlines, is in her early thirties, aides of the governor say.

Among guests at the event were President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President-elect, Yemi Osibajo, Senator Bukola Saraki, and Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Asishana Okauru.

Oshiomhole lost his wife, Clara, to cancer in 2010 at age 54, and had remained single ever since.

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