After 10 months of suspending flight to Nigeria, Emirates has announced that it would resume passenger operations between Dubai and Nigeria from December 5, 2021.
In a statement yesterday, the airline stated that Nigerian cities – Abuja and Lagos – would be served with daily flights from the day of resumption.
This is coming after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) removed Nigeria from countries that their passengers would undergo Rapid PCR test four hours before boarding flights to Dubai.
Nigeria’s government had in response lifted the ban on the airline from flying into Nigeria for abiding by the country’s COVID-19 protocol for departing Nigerian passengers to Dubai.
“The world’s largest international airline will operate to and from its Nigerian gateways with daily flights, providing travellers from Nigeria convenient access to Dubai, which remains a highly popular holiday and business destination. It’ll also enable travellers to safely connect via Dubai to the Emirates network of over 120 global destinations,” the airline stated.
The statement disclosed that Emirates would operate to Abuja with EK 785 and 786. EK 785 would depart Dubai at 1100hrs, arriving in Abuja at 1540hrs. The return flight, EK 786 would take off from Abuja at 1900, arriving in Dubai at 0435hrs the next day.
Also, Emirates flight EK 783 to Lagos would depart Dubai at 1030hrs, arriving in Lagos at 1540hrs. The return flight EK 784 would depart Lagos at 1810hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0415hrs the next day.
The airline said all flights could be booked on its website with OTAs and via travel agents.
“Throughout the pandemic, Emirates has been helping its customers travel safely and confidently, implementing industry-leading health and safety measures at every point of the travel journey, helping communities reconnect faster and facilitating economic recovery.
“The airline has also been working hard to provide up to date, comprehensive travel information to its customers, as well as speeding up processes on the ground through digital verification for Covid-19 via the IATA Travel Pass, as well as touchless check-in and biometrics processing,” the airline stated.
It also said to ensure the safety of travellers, visitors, and the community, Covid-19 PCR tests are mandatory for all inbound passengers arriving to Dubai, including UAE citizens, residents and tourists, irrespective of the country they are coming from.
“Travellers coming from Nigeria must hold a negative Covid-19 PCR test certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours before departure.
“Additionally, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has specified designated laboratories for passengers departing Nigeria and travellers must obtain their certificate from one of the labs to be accepted on the flight. Travellers coming from Nigeria will also need to take another Covid-19 PCR test on arrival at Dubai International Airport.
“Passengers flying to Nigeria have to meet the requirements of their destination,” the airline stated.