Minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo said Emirates is set to resume flight operations to Nigeria before June, 2024.
The minister, who was a guest on Arise TV on Monday, confirmed that he had received a letter from Emirates on the return of the carrier.
He also clarified that the first announcement in October 2023 over the proposed resolution of the face-off between both nations was not fake news but was hasty.
According to him, “Emirates flight resumption is almost happening. I just received a letter from Emirates. The letter is on my phone now. They are ready to come back. They will announce the date because to restart a route, they have to get an aircraft for that route.
“I am announcing to Nigerians for the first time; that I just received a letter from Emirates now. The letter is with me. I have a hard copy thanking you for all the efforts we made. Mr. President was the showman here. He was the one who pushed for it. He made my job easy because he went there, and had a diplomatic shuttle to resolve all the issues.
“That was why I said the last announcement was hasty and not fake news. They will announce the date for their next flight. We have received a letter confirming that all the issues have been resolved and prepared to start coming back. It may be before June.”
Recall that Emirates suspended flight operations to Nigeria in 2022 suspended flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate its revenue trapped in the country but the federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria has released bulk of the trapped funds thereby paving the way for the return of the airlines
