By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Less than one week after it resumed flights operation in and out of Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flagship carrier, Emirates Airline has seen its 21 approved frequencies slashed to just one weekly flight.
This much was disclosed in a press statement signed by Captain Musa Nuhu, Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and made available to journalists on Friday in Abuja.
According to the statement which was not on the NCAA letterhead paper, the Federal Government aviation authority explained that it has to take such drastic action against Emirates Airline because the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of UAE refused to grant a Nigerian airline, Air Peace Airline permission to operate just three passenger flights weekly to Sharjah International Airport in UAE after Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation had graciously granted Emirates Airline permission to operate 21 passenger flights frequencies into the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos respectively.
Nuhu explained that: ” the DG of NCAA held a meeting with his GCAA (UAE) counterpart on Thursday, December 9, at the sideline of the (ICAO) Air Negotiation Conference (ICAN) in Bogota, Colombia which ended in a stalemate”.
For this reason, he said the UAE has violated the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between countries which is based on the principles of reciprocity, adding that the Minister of Aviation has therefore cancelled the initial approval given to Emirates Airline to operate its Winter Schedule of 21 flights frequencies and reduced it to just one weekly flight.
Emirates Airline was off the Nigerian airspace for nine months after the Nigerian government applied same principle of reciprocity when the UAE government introduced a harsh Covid-19 protocols for Nigerian passengers to UAE.
Both countries mended their relationship a week ago and Emirates Airline resumed regular flights operation in Nigeria last Sunday with two flights in and out of Lagos and Abuja before the latest imbroglio.
Expectedly, this new development has triggered anxiety in passenger who had made their reservations but have now to wait for days before being airlifted by Emirates Airline following the drastic reduction in their scheduled flights.
