Flights to Nigeria are halted by Emirates Airlines due to trapped funds.

Emirates Airlines’ ability to return blocked funds has caused it to halt operations in Nigeria.

The airline stated that the suspension would begin on October 29, 2022 in a statement made accessible to Channels Television on Thursday.

The airline said that it had informed the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria of their stance (CBN).

In August, Emirates had to cancel all of its flights to Nigeria because to a $85 million revenue repatriation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in August that international airlines have been successful in bringing $464 million back to their home countries from Nigeria.

Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, then pledged to release $265 million to international airlines to help offset some of the frozen funds.

Emirates stated that it “had not yet received an allocation of our blocked funds to be repatriated.”

The backlog will only continue to grow if the funds aren’t repatriated on time and there isn’t a system in place to make sure that future repatriations of Emirates’ funds don’t accumulate in any way. Without these two things, we won’t be able to cover our operational costs or keep our operations in Nigeria commercially viable.

“We have attended numerous sessions with the Nigerian government and formally expressed our stance. We have also made clear our suggested course of action to alleviate this untenable situation, including a strategy for the gradual release of our assets.

“This includes creating a guaranteed procedure to prevent future repatriation accumulation problems and delays, as well as the repatriation and receipt of at least 80% of our remaining blocked money by the end of October 2022.

According to the airline, “Under these unprecedented conditions, Emirates had no choice but to cease flights to/from Nigeria beginning on October 29, 2022 in order to reduce potential future losses.”