After a two-year hiatus, Emirates Airline has returned to Nigeria, expanding the destination options available to local carriers. Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, announced that the airline has come back to operate, and that the goal of the negotiated Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) is to guarantee routes for regional carriers.
The Nigerian people will benefit from increased competition and reasonable pricing as a result of local carriers being able to travel to any location in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, Keyamo obtained a code sharing deal for Emirates Airlines, giving them the option to code-share with others first.
He commended President Bola Tinubu’s support for the deal and return of the airline, noting that the relationship between the two countries has been repaired.
Two years prior, the airline had halted operations because of embezzled monies from Nigerian banks. David Broz, senior vice president of aeropolitical and airline industry affairs, Sami Aqil Abdullah, senior vice president of Emirates Airport Services Outstation and Business Support, and Adil Al Ghaith, senior vice president of commercial operations, Gulf, Middle East, and Central Asia, led the official delegation on board.
With Emirates back, additional routes will become available for domestic carriers, says Festus Keyamo
