Due to its stuck funds in Nigeria, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Airline has indefinitely halted all flights to Nigeria.
Additionally, it stated that it had not yet received its share of the $260 million that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had made available to free some of the blocked cash belonging to foreign airlines.
British Airways forbids payment in naira from travel agencies and considers suspending flights due to trapped cash.
Emirates had earlier in September canceled its flight but resumed it after the CBN announced the release of $260 million to settle some of the unpaid money, which are now estimated to be worth over $700 million.
This flight’s suspension came a week after the UAE government stopped issuing visas to Nigerians traveling to Dubai, which further decreased the load factors of airlines.
The comapney said, “… Emirates has yet to receive an allocation of our blocked funds to be repatriated. Without the timely repatriation of the funds and a mechanism in place to ensure that future repatriation of Emirates’ funds do 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. 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 travellers and businesses.”