Emirates Airlines has announced resumption of services to Nigeria from October 1, 2024, with a daily service between Lagos and Dubai, thanks to President Bola Tinubu’s efforts at effecting the repatriation of the airline’s funds out of Nigeria.

In a statement on Thursday, the airline said flight services will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER.

Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, Adnan Kazim, said, “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and we hope to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations.

“We thank the Nigerian government for their partnership and support in re-establishing this route and we look forward to welcoming passengers back onboard.”

Emirates Airlines had suspended its Dubai-Lagos flights in 2022 over its inability to repatriate trapped funds in Nigeria in the heat of the diplomatic row between the two countries.

Nigeria and the UAE have a long history of restriction of flights between both countries based on certain unresolved issues surrounding the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).  The Nigeria-Dubai has been one of the airline’s most profitable routes, according to data available to Political Economist NG.

In September 2023, President Bola Tinubu met with UAE President, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi, to defrost the  diplomatic mist between the two countries.

Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, recently hinted that Emirates Airlines has indicated a definite date to resume flight operations to Nigerian airports.