Emirates Airlines has unveiled plans to recommence flight operations to Nigerian airports, marking its return after a two-year hiatus. The airline disclosed this announcement through its official X account on Thursday.
Flight services will resume utilizing a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The outbound flight, EK783, is scheduled to depart from Dubai at 0945hrs, reaching Lagos at 1520hrs. The return leg, EK784, will depart Lagos at 1730hrs and land in Dubai at 0510hrs the following day.
In a tweet, Emirates expressed its excitement, stating, “We’re back, Nigeria! We’ll be resuming services to Lagos from 1 October 2024, and we can’t wait to offer unrivaled connectivity to Dubai and beyond to over 140 cities.”
Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, commented, “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai route has historically been popular among Nigerian customers, and we look forward to reconnecting leisure and business travelers to Dubai and beyond our network of over 140 destinations.”
Emirates operates to 19 gateways in Africa with 157 flights per week from Dubai, extending its reach to an additional 130 regional points in Africa through codeshare and interline partnerships with airlines such as South African Airways, Airlink, Royal Air Maroc, and Tunis Air.
The resumption of daily passenger flights between Nigeria and the UAE is expected to enhance bilateral trade relations, particularly given Lagos’ status as Nigeria’s commercial hub. Emirates SkyCargo will also contribute to bolstering trade relations by offering more than 300 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity in and out of Lagos every week.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, had previously hinted at this development.