Emirates Airlines has suspended flights operations to
Nigeria over its inability to repatriate funds trapped in the country.
The airline said this in statement on Thursday.
According to the statement, the suspension took effect from
October, 29 2022.
This is second time the airline will be suspending flights
to the West African country over its $85 million revenue.
The first time was in August, 2022.
Foreign airlines have been struggling to repatriate their
earnings of more than $500 million.
Although Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis has made it
difficult for the funds to be repatriated, the federal government released $265
million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket
sales.
After several engagements with stakeholders, the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) promised to release another $120 million to the
international carriers to offset part of the trapped funds by the end of
October.
However, in the statement, Emirates, the flag carrier of the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), disclosed that despite promises of allocation by
CBN, nothing has been done.
It, therefore, decided to suspend both inbound and outbound
Nigerian flight operations.
“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,” the statement reads.
“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 percent 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 travellers and businesses.”
Last week, Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says Nigeria
will not succumb to threats by foreign airlines to shut down operations in
Nigeria.
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