Emirates Airlines has halted flights to Nigeria due to an inability to return frozen funds.
The airline said in a statement that the suspension would take effect from October 29, 2022.
The airline stated that it has informed the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria of its position (CBN).
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Emirates had canceled flights to Nigeria in August due to a $85 million revenue shortfall. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in August that international airlines have been unable to repatriate $464 million from Nigeria.
Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, later committed to release $265 million to international airlines to offset some of the detained funds.
“However, Emirates has yet to receive an allocation of our frozen cash to be repatriated,” the company stated.
“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% 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,” the airline explained.
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