The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barrister Festus Keyamo has said that Emirates Airline would resume operations in Nigeria on or before June 2024.
The minister said on Monday on Arise Television that President Bola Tinubu played a significant role in resolving the frosty relations between the two countries.
According to him, the Nigerian government and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have resolved issues, and the airline is set to announce the date for its first flight.
Keyamo said the UAE airline sent a letter confirming its readiness to resume flight operations in Nigeria.
“Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my phone now. They have gone through all the gamut, and 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”, he said.
In November 2023, after the Dubai Airshow, Keyamo announced that he spoke with the representatives of Emirates Airlines concerning a possible resumption.
He said the airline was working on the small details and would announce the exact date of their resumption of the flights.
Keyamo further said: “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 you 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 that we are prepared to start coming back. It may be before June”.
Emirates Airline halted its flight operations to Nigeria in October 2022 because it could not repatriate funds held in the country.
The airline attributed the October suspension to the $85bn revenue trapped in Nigeria.
