By Chinelo Obogo

 

Following the lift of ban on flights coming into Nigeria from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the Federal Government, Air Peace has said it would resume flights to Dubai via Sharjah on December 1, 2021, ending the movement of Nigerians to Benin Republic and Ghana to board direct flights to the Middle Eastern country.

The airline, in a statement, said: “Air Peace is delighted to inform the flying public that it will be resuming its Dubai service via Sharjah on December 1, 2021. This is consequent upon Federal Government’s lifting of ban on flights from and to the UAE. Customers are urged to comply with all established COVID-19 protocols governing international air travel and cooperate with airport staff in this regard.”

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, announced on Friday in Abuja that the ban on flights from the UAE was lifted after Emirates Airline relaxed its stringent COVID-19 protocols for Nigerian travelers. This means that passengers who had to travel from Nigeria to neighbouring countries like Ghana, Cotonou in Benin Republic and even Sierra Leone to get direct flights to Dubai at a higher cost would be relieved and can now travel directly from Nigeria.

The United Arab Emirates, in its latest Coronavirus protocol, removed the Rapid Antigen Test (RDT) for COVID-19 as prerequisite for travelling to the Middle East country for Nigerians and some other countries. The FG also reciprocated by lifting the ban it previously placed on UAE’s Emirates Airline’s flights into Nigeria.

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A statement dated November 26, 2021, issued by the Aviation Business Management Team-Dubai Airports, indicated that RDT would no longer be required for all flights effective from Saturday November 27, 2021 at 00.0 hours, for passengers travelling to Dubai from Nigeria, Uganda, Vietnam and  Zambia.

According to the statement, inbound passengers, who are eligible to travel to Dubai should comply with the following conditions: “The passenger(s) shall present a valid negative COVID-19 test certificate that is issued within the valid time frame, namely, (72) hours from the time of collecting the sample and from the approved health service that uses QR code system.

“Passenger(s) shall undergo a PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) upon arrival at Dubai Airports. No approval is required from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) or from General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) for the passengers from the aforesaid countries, to enter Dubai. No rapid PCR test report is required.

“The airlines shall ensure and/or verify the compliance of the above requirement(s) prior to passenger(s) boarding the aircraft and shall not accept any passenger(s) who does not fulfill the aforesaid condition(s) and/or requirements,” the statement said.

With the new protocol, UAE has dropped the RDT test, which caused a disagreement between Nigeria and the UAE thus forcing Emirates to stop operating to Nigeria when the federal government insisted that it must not conduct RDT on Nigerian passengers four hours before their flight as well as insisting that the 72 hours PCR test must be accepted by the airline.

Sirika while briefing journalists said the ban on Emirates was lifted following communications received from UAE removing travel conditions the Nigerian government had opposed. He said the UAE had removed the restrictions without conditions hence Nigeria reciprocated the gesture by lifting the ban on Emirates.