Barely 48 hours after announcing the resumption of flights to Nigeria, Emirates Airline has again announced the indefinite suspension of flights to Nigeria.
Earlier, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had fixed Wednesday, June 23, 2021, for resumption of flights to Nigeria.
But in a statement on its website on Monday, the airline said, “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 Nigerian government and UAE have been at each other over diplomatic row on COVID-19 protocols.
Emirates had banned all flights to Nigeria since March and had only announced the resumption on Saturday.
The Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management had lifted the ban on Nigeria and also removed the rapid blood test and mentioned that passengers from Nigeria would only be required to possess negative PCR test.
Emirates had said, “We look forward to facilitating travel from these countries and supporting various travelers’ categories.
“We will resume carrying passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India in accordance with these protocols from 23rd June.”
But it made a U-turn on Monday with a new travel update indicating that Lagos and Abuja flights would no longer resume on Wednesday as earlier announced.
The Airline said, “Customers travelling to and from Lagos and Abuja will not be accepted for travel. Customers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days are not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE.
“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call center for rebooking. Emirates remains committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services when conditions allow.”
