The emirates airline in Dubai has suspended all its flights to and from Nigeria since October 29, due to the inability to retrieve funds from Nigeria. This is the second time flights are blocked since September.
The public relations manager of the airline Rula Tadroson announced the suspension of its services. They also communicated clearly their position on the underlying issue. The manager also expressed that the airline is facing losses over the cost of the services and had no option but to stop the services to avoid losses in the future.
Emirates Cancelled Flights To Nigeria Due To A Failure To Recover Funds!
This action is taken only after availing the airline services despite the inability to recover $85 million over the last few months, the emirates notified that the tag price is rising by $10 million per month.
The emirate and the Nigerian government had attended several meetings to seek an active solution to restart its flight services. After long discussions, the emirate has concluded its position to halt the airline services for further loss. The emirate believes to reach a possible solution in the near future to continue the service.
In addition, The emirate is still yet to receive some allocated funds from the Nigerian government over the past course of airline services. The emirate proposed a generous offer to the inhospitable situation, to repatriate at least 80% of their remaining funds that is yet to be recovered, moreover a guarantee to avoid any future challenges and delays over their flight services from the Nigerian government.
This Is The 2nd Time Emirates Suspends Flights To Nigeria!
The flight services were stopped earlier this year also, and the emirates continued its services only after they retrieved $265 million from the Nigerian government, according to CBN
The international air transport association (IATA) has also issued that foreign airlines have plunged a total of $464 million which they have been not able to recover from the Nigerian government given the situation the popular economy of Africa is encountering
The current operating domestic airlines services are struggling with the rising aviation fuel, amid the fuel crisis all over the globe. The difficulty in accessing the forex exchange of money has skyrocketed all the domestic as well as airline fares
The international flight to and from Nigeria has decreased from 11 to just seven over the trapped funds towards many foreign airlines. Since the beginning of the year, the Nigerian government have to pay a sum of at least $600 million to 20 foreign airlines, for the inability to meet the cost of travel and other expenses foreign airlines have been halting their services to Nigeria gradually. It is believed that Nigerian citizens will face severe difficulty in traveling domestically or internationally
The ongoing crisis in Nigeria worsened amidst the foreign exchange situation and deterioration of its foreign reserves. The redesigning of the country’s local currency has raised enormous demand which has not been met, which further led to the devaluation of the Naira at the local and global markets.
The Nigerian government is currently facing severe shortages of money, compelling many private and public business sectors to undergo losses. The fall of the Nigerian economy is highly due to a series of overlying security, political and economic crisis over the past years. Moreover, many of the leading providers of foreign exchange such as investors exited the Nigerian government when the covid 19 pandemic raised oil prices leading the economy to crash. Since then the central and reserve bank of the country has been struggling to protect the economy by implementing different strategies. Many customers and citizens have been facing backlash from the banks of the country
The Nigerian government requires offshore expenses while rising demand has put Africa’s biggest economy under pressure.