Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, declared that Emirates Airline would return to operations in Nigeria by June 2024 at the latest.
This was revealed by Keyamo during his Monday appearance on Arise Television.
According to the minister, President Bola Tinubu was instrumental in thawing the tense relations between the two nations.
The minister claims that the United Arab Emirates and the Nigerian government have worked out their differences, and the airline will soon reveal the date of its inaugural flight.
According to Keyamo, the UAE airline confirmed in writing that it is prepared to start operating again 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.
Following the Dubai Airshow in November 2023, Keyamo declared that he had a conversation with Emirates Airlines executives about a potential relaunch.
He claimed that the airline was taking care of the minor matters and will make the precise date of the flights’ return public.
Speaking further, Keyamo stated, “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,” the minister said.
Due to its inability to repatriate funds stored in Nigeria, Emirates Airline terminated its flying operations to that nation in October 2022.
The airline blamed the $85 billion in income stuck in Nigeria for the stoppage that occurred in October.
