Dubai: Dubai’s flagship carrier, Emirates, will resume services to Nigeria from October 1 this year, the airline said in a statement on Thursday. Emirates will operate a daily service between Lagos and Dubai using a Boeing 777-300ER.
Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, said, “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria. We hope to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations.”
He said, “We thank the Nigerian government for their partnership and support in re-establishing this route, and we look forward to welcoming passengers back onboard.”
The Dubai carrier suspended flights to Nigeria in October 2022 due to an issue over blocked funds. With the resumption of operations to Nigeria, Emirates will now operate to 19 gateways in Africa with 157 flights per week from Dubai.
“As a major economic hub in Africa, Nigeria and the UAE have built strong bilateral trade relations over the years, headlined by Lagos as the nation’s commercial centre,” Emirates said. With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the carrier said that the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further bolster the trade relationship by offering more than 300 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity in and out of Lagos every week.
Emirates SkyCargo will support Nigerian businesses by exporting their goods via its hub in Dubai into critical markets such as the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Bahrain, among others, with key anticipated commodities such as Kola Nuts, food and beverages, and urgent courier material. Emirates SkyCargo will also import vital goods such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and general cargo from key markets such as the UAE, India and Hong Kong.
