By Chinelo Obogo
Emirates airline has suspended operations into Nigeria since October 29, 2022 over its inability to repatriate funds from the sale of tickets, now trapped in Nigerian banks.
A statement from the airline on Thursday, said it had no option but to suspend flights to/from Nigeria from October 29, 2022 to mitigate against further losses moving forward. At the moment, an attempt to book a flight from Abuja and Lagos on Emirates portal, yields an automatic non-availability message.
The airline said it has continued to actively seek a solution for the repatriation of the remainder of its blocked funds in Nigeria and is encouraged by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts of reviewing their request, but that it is yet to receive an allocation of their funds to be repatriated.
The airline explained that it has officially communicated its position and attended multiple hearings with the Nigerian government, and have made its proposed approach clear to alleviate this untenable situation, including a plan for the progressive release of our funds.
“Emirates has continued to actively seek a solution for the repatriation of the remainder of its blocked funds in Nigeria. We were encouraged by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts of reviewing our request, and considered that this critical issue would be swiftly resolved with the subsequent clearance of our remaining funds.
“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.
“We have officially communicated our position and attended multiple hearings with the Nigerian government, and we have made our proposed approach clear to alleviate this untenable situation, including a plan for the progressive release of our funds. This included the repatriation and receipt of at least 80% of our remaining blocked funds by the end of October 2022, in addition to providing a guaranteed mechanism to avoid future repatriation accumulation challenges and delays.
Under these extraordinary circumstances Emirates had no option but to suspend flights to/from Nigeria from 29 October 2022 to mitigate against further losses moving forward. We hope to reach a mutual resolution with the Nigerian government around the repatriation of blocked funds to enable the resumption of operations and connectivity for travelers and businesses,” the airline said.