Emirates rescinds all flights to Nigeria indefinitely.

Due to stuck funds in Nigeria, United Arab Emirates (UAE) airline, Emirates, has temporarily halted all flights to Nigeria. The airline claimed that it made the choice because it has not yet received its share of the $260 million that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued to unblock some of the cash belonging to foreign airlines. However, Emirates has not yet received a distribution of our blocked monies to be returned, according to a statement from the airline. The backlog will only continue to grow if the funds are not timely repatriated and there is no mechanism in place to ensure that future repatriations of Emirates funds do not accrue in any way. Without these two things, we will be unable to cover our operational costs or 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. We hope to reach a mutual resolution with the Nigerian government around the repatriation of blocked funds to enable the resumption of operations and connectivity for travelers and businesses.