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By Chinelo Obogo
Emirates airline has said that from September 1, 2022, it would suspend flights from Nigeria over its failure to repatriate money made from ticket sales still trapped in Nigeria.
In a statement on Thursday, the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that it would suspend flights from Nigeria effective September 1, 2022 citing the millions of dollars belonging to over 20 foreign airlines trapped in Nigeria since the beginning of the year.
It is estimated that about $600 million funds belonging to foreign airlines is now trapped in Nigerian since the beginning of the year, with the airline cutting its 11 weekly frequencies to into Lagos Airport to seven, but is further being compelled to suspend all flights into the country.
“Emirates has tried every avenue to address our ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, and we have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution.
“Regrettably, there has been no progress. Therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective September 1 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers, however, the circumstances are beyond our control at this stage. We will be working to help impacted customers make alternative travel arrangements wherever possible.
“Should there be any positive developments in the coming days regarding Emirates’ blocked funds in Nigeria, we will of course re-evaluate our decision. We remain keen to serve Nigeria, and our operations provide much-needed connectivity for Nigerian travelers, providing access to trade and tourism opportunities to Dubai, and to our broader network of over 130 destinations,” the airline said.
Meanwhile, aviation stakeholders who spoke anonymously to Daily Sun, said that the reason why the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been unable to pay the airline is because it is unavailable.
“The country cannot manufacture dollars for them to repatriate over $80 million in Nigeria. When they were competing to outdo an indigenous, the only airline doing direct flight to Dubai, didn’t they know of the dollar situation here before embarking on having multiple frequencies into Nigeria. They do two flights out of Lagos daily and one out of Abuja daily, bringing the total to three daily flights into Nigeria and 21 flights every week,” said one of the stakeholders, who also remarked that at the time the airline increased its frequency, there was no passenger traffic to justify it.
“Once they heard a Nigerian airline was about to start flying to Dubai, they applied to increase the Lagos frequency to three flights daily. They didn’t need all these flights but they increased frequency to stifle competition. Nigerians are even angry at the figures they are publishing; they feel having been ripped off,” the stakeholder said.
An operator who expressed his fear about the impact of what he referred to as subtle blackmail of government said, “The pressure is on and sooner rather than later government will succumb and release millions in forex that is supposedly scarce to foreign operators that create and sustain jobs in their respective countries. This is huge subsidy to them in addition to the obscene fares they charge Nigerians which obviously have discounted the Naira at 800 per dollar.
“Yet domestic operators cannot get forex to buy spares and pay for their leases or buy aircraft. Yes, how much do we really need? Nothing compared to the direct subsidies given to foreign airlines. Government should support Nigerian aviation investors, who create and sustain millions of jobs here. Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) should also mount pressure to ensure that these monies are not paid to foreign airlines, while order priories suffer,” the industry source said.
Some of the stakeholders canvassed that what government should do is to approve that airlines should sell their ticket in foreign currency.
“Foreign airlines are asking for special treatment. We can’t therefore be blamed if domestic airlines are better at the price mechanics that make them more successful on the routes suspended by foreign carriers. For me I’m going to stop saying funds are trapped, they aren’t. Air Peace should step into the gap voluntarily exited by Emirates, our media must also counter the foreign narrative that funds are trapped,” he said.
