By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
After a two-years suspension of operations, Emirates Airlines has announced plans to resume flight operations to Nigerian airports from October 1, 2024.
The airline made announced this on Thursday through its official X handle.
“We’re back, Nigeria! We’ll be resuming services to Lagos from 1 October 2024, and we can’t wait to offer unrivalled connectivity to Dubai and beyond to over 140 cities,” the tweet affirmed.
The company hinted that it will resume with a Boeing 777-300ER. EK783 which will depart Dubai at 09.45hrs, arriving in Lagos at 15.20hrs while the return flight EK784 will leave Lagos at 17.30hrs and arrive in Dubai at 05.10hrs the next day.
Commenting on the development, Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer 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 travelers 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.
“With the resumption of operations to Nigeria, Emirates operates 19 gateways in Africa with 157 flights per week from Dubai, with further reach to an additional 130 regional points in Africa through its codeshare and interline partnerships with South African Airways, Airlink, Royal Air Maroc, Tunis Air, among others.
“As a major economic hub in Africa, Nigeria and the UAE have built strong bilateral trade relations over the years, headlined by Lagos as the nation’s commercial centre. With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further bolster the trade relationship by offering more than 300 tonnes of bellyhold cargo capacity, in and out of Lagos every week.”
