Emirates Airline resumes flight operations to Nigeria

Finally, Emirates airline says it will resume passenger operations between Dubai and Nigeria from December 5, 2021, the airline stated in a statement issued Thursday.

But passengers from Nigeria are mandated to take the COVID-19 PCR test within three days before departure and another test on arrival at the UAE.

The statement reads in parts, “The world’s largest international airline will operate to and from its Nigerian gateways with daily flights, providing travellers from Nigeria convenient access to Dubai, which remains a highly popular holiday and business destination,”.

The airline explained that, “It’ll also enable travellers to safely connect via Dubai to the Emirates network of over 120 global destinations.”

According to the flag carrier of the UAE, Emirates will fly to Abuja with EK 785 and 786, leaving Dubai at 1100hrs, arriving in Abuja at 1540hrs. The return flight, EK 786 will take off from Abuja at 1900, arriving in Dubai at 0435hrs the next day.

The airline said travellers coming from Nigeria must hold a negative COVID-19 PCR certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours before departure and passengers departing Nigeria must obtain the certificates from one of the designated centres provided by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The statement continued, “Travellers coming from Nigeria will also need to take another Covid-19 PCR test on arrival at Dubai International Airport,”

“Ensuring the safety of travellers, visitors, and the community, Covid-19 PCR tests are mandatory for all inbound passengers arriving to Dubai, including UAE citizens, residents and tourists, irrespective of the country they are coming from.”

Dubai’s flagship carrier, Emirates, has yet again announced a suspension of flights to and from Nigeria until November 30.

The airline in a statement on its website said customers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days will not be permitted on any Emirates flights bound for Dubai.

“Affected flight bookings have been cancelled,” it stated.

In June, the Dubai’s flagship carrier, Emirates announced a suspension of flights to and fro Nigeria, NewsWireNGR recalls.

“In line with government directives, passenger flights to and from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) are suspended with effect from 21 June 2021 until further notice,” the airline said at the time.

The directive came barely two days after the airline had announced resumption of flights to Nigeria after weeks of suspension.

The UAE authorities had initially fixed June 23, 2021, for resumption of flights to Nigeria. Flights had been suspended in March over diplomatic row on COVID-19 protocol.