United Arab Emirates has extended the suspension of flights from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) from February 28 to March 10.
The suspension, which was contained in the updated travel protocol posted on the website of the Emirates Airline posted on Sunday, the flag carrier of the UAE, was entitled, “Temporary suspension of flights from Nigeria to Dubai until 10 March.”
Hitherto, the airline had earlier announced the suspension of its flights from Nigeria until February 28, but has now further shifted it by two weeks.
The update read, “In line with government directives, passenger services from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) to Dubai are temporarily suspended until 10 March 2021.
“Customers from both Abuja and Lagos will not be accepted for travel prior to or including this date. Passengers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days are not allowed entry into the UAE (whether terminating in or connecting through Dubai).
“Emirates flights from Dubai to Lagos and Abuja will continue to operate as per the normal schedule.
“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking. Emirates remains committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services to Dubai for our customers when conditions allow.”
The suspension of Emirates flights might have come as a retaliatory action, coming few days after a similar action by the Federal Government over the introduction of rapid antigen test as a requirement for Dubai travelers which is against the Nigerian negative PCR requirements.
The Federal Government, had through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) banned Emirates Airlines’ operations in Nigeria for violating COVID-19 protocols.
Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, had announced the ban in a letter to the airline dated February 4, 2021.
The NCAA had said then that the ban was necessitated by the continued airlift of passengers from Nigeria using the Rapid Antigen Tests (RDT) conducted by laboratories that are “neither approved nor authorized by the appropriate regulatory,” which it described as flagrant violation of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 directive.
But the ban was lifted the following day after Emirates announced the withdrawal of the antigen test, the airline afterwards suspended all Nigerian flights and only allow flights from Dubai to Nigeria.
