A spokesperson for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) announced that Nigeria had lifted its suspension of Emirates airlines flights after the state-owned carrier insisted that passengers from Nigeria needed additional COVID-19 tests. In a telephone call, the NCAA spokesperson said that the NCAA would be releasing a statement with further details soon regarding the temporary suspension of Emirates flights, saying:
“The suspension has just been lifted because they have complied with what we want.”
A spokesperson for Emirates airlines said the company “could confirm that we will continue to operate services to Abuja and Lagos.”
In a letter to the manager of Emirates in Nigeria dated February 4 and titled: “Suspension of Emirates airlines operations to Nigeria.”
The NCAA claimed that Emirates had flown passengers from Nigeria that had taken COVID-19 tests done by labs that have not been approved nor authorized by the appropriate Nigerian authorities. Reuters claims that the letter says that the decision to suspend Emirates flights was made because Emirates failed to heed a request by Nigeria.
Nigeria asked Emirates to accept passengers who had not taken the rapid test four hours before departure until such a time as it was possible to have this test done at Nigerian airports by approved laboratories. If they could not accommodate the Nigerian authorities with this request, the letter said that they should suspend all flights to Nigeria.
Nigerians must arrive on direct flights
Airlines try and do everything they can to make flying as stress-free as possible, which means that the four-hour antigen test before flying to Dubia was probably at the authorities’ request in the UAE.
You must use a designated lab
Looking at the Emirates website for updates on COVID-19 testing for passengers arriving from Nigeria, we can see no mention of the four-hour rapid antigen test. Still, it does say that all passengers must provide the following:
“All passengers arriving into Dubai from any point of origin (GCC countries included) must hold a negative COVID‑19 PCR test certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours before departure.”
“If you are flying from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, or Bangladesh, you must get your certificate from one of the labs listed in the designated laboratories document to be accepted on the flight.
Happily, it looks as though this has all been sorted out and that Nigeria has lifted Emirates suspension.
If you have recently flown from Nigeria to Dubai or plan to do so soon, please tell us about it in the comments.
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