By John Ikani
Emirates Airlines yesterday announced the indefinitely suspension of flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate blocked funds.
The latest suspension of its flights was made known through a statement made available to the media in which the airline announced that its suspension of flight services to Nigeria took effect from October 29, 2022.
Emirates which hinged its suspension on inability to repatriate its revenue from Nigeria, added that it has communicated its position to the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Recall that in August, the airline suspended flights to Nigeria over its $85 million blocked revenue. In August, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said foreign airlines had not been able to repatriate $464 million from Nigeria.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele subsequently promised to release $265 million to foreign airlines to offset part of the trapped 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 does 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 per cent 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 guard against further losses moving forward.”
Meanwhile, the president, Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, Kingsley Nwokoma, has affirmed that other airlines were most likely to follow in the steps of Emirates.
Mr. Nwokoma in a telephone chat with local medium The Punch said: “Tickets are being sold every minute. That means there’ll be more funds stuck here so even if the Federal Government says they’re releasing XYZ amount, the problem has not been solved. The solution is for all parties to sit and deliberate on how these monies would be paid. Apparently, no airline will want to keep running at a loss because they are not even sure of the next day.
“Check the IATA figures. Yes, some other countries owe but not as much as Nigeria, and the airlines need this money to function. There’s a likelihood that other airlines might follow in the steps of Emirates if this is not properly diagnosed.”
