FG clears Emirates to resume Dubai-Lagos/Abuja operations, as airlines shut flights into southern Africa over surge in Covid-19 Omicron variant

[By VICTOR NZE]

Federal Government has cleared the Emirates Airlines to resume flights into Nigeria from its Lagos and Abuja hubs which were halted in September, this year over dispute surrounding Covid-19 protocols for arriving passengers from both countries.

This is also as the surge in reported cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant has forced more international airlines to close down flight operations into southern Africa countries.

The diplomatic standoff between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bordered on procedure for the Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for arriving passengers from Nigeria which the Federal Government had called discriminatory. The bickering led to reciprocal ban on Emirates operations into Nigeria, which the UAE has implemented.

The stand-off may now have been resolved as the Ministry of Aviation, Friday, announced a lifting on the ban on the Emirates operations into Nigeria.

However, the airline is yet to respond to the Federal Government decision, as checks showed that by Sunday, the Gulf nation-based carrier had placed flights to Nigeria destinations ‘on hold.’  

“Affected flight bookings have been cancelled.

“If your flight has been cancelled or impacted by route suspensions due to COVID 19 restrictions, you don’t need to call us immediately for rebooking.

“You can simply hold on to your Emirates ticket and when flights resume, get in touch with your booking office or us to make new travel plans,” a notice on its website read.

The see-saw diplomatic row between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the aviation sector over sanctions on flights operations of Emirates Airlines over denial of visas to Nigerians based on ‘discriminatory’ Covid-19 protocols, was believed to have been resolved in September, until the Federal Government again slammed another ban on Dubai operations of the Gulf nation’s carrier from the country.

The Nigeria/UAE stand-off began in February over differences in Covid-19 protocols at both countries’ airports, as flight restrictions were placed both ways on airlines’ operations into each country.

The sanctions followed the UAE directive to its national carrier, Emirates Airlines to impose additional COVID-19 test requirements on passengers from Nigeria.

However, last September, the Federal Government announced clearing Emirates Airlines to resume international flights into Nigeria following the resolution of visa disagreement between both countries.

The UAE-based carrier was then cleared to resume international flights into Nigeria following the resolution of visa disagreement between both countries.

Ministry of Aviation had said the decision was based on the undertaking by the authorities of the UAE and the Nigerian government having ‘agreed to lift the ban placed on Emirates Airlines from operating into and out of the country.’

According to Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, the commencement of the Emirates’ operations would, however, depend on the commencement of visa issuance by the UAE authorities to Nigerians.

“UAE has written to state that they agree to issue visas to Nigerians, consequently decision has been reached to allow Emirates to fly into Nigeria. Commencement of the Visa issuance is condition precedent. Please bear with this unusual situation,” the minister said.

Sirika appreciated the understanding of everyone who has been negatively affected by the recent policy decisions which forbade some airlines from operating into the country when Nigeria reopened its air space to international flights.

The decisions, he said, were ‘taken to protect the interests of the nation and its citizens who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, same Nigeria treats other nationals.’

It would be recalled that prior to the resumption of international operations on September 5, after the air lockdown over Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Government had approved only 10 foreign airlines to fly into the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika who gave the names of airlines during a briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, said only the 10 are permitted to commence flight operations when the country opens its commercial airspace from September 5.

The minister listed the airlines as; British Airways (BA); Delta Air Lines; Emirates, Qatar, AWA, Kenya Airways and Middle East Airlines, as carriers permitted to operate into the Lagos airport.

While he also listed British Airways, Emirates, Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, African World Airlines (AWA), and Middle East Airlines and Turkish Airlines as international carriers allowed into the Abuja airport.

However, barely a week after commencement of flights, the Federal Government barred Emirates from flying into the country following its refusal to grant visas to Nigerians travelling into that country, leading to the cancellation of the airline’s permit into Nigeria’s airspace as response.

The UAE government had in February suspended the pre-departure Rapid Antigen Test (RDT), which was the major issue that led to the ban instituted by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 to direct the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ban all Emirates Airline airlifting of Lagos and Abuja Passengers for 72 hours.

However, after the UAE stopped the pre-RDT tests, the PTF directed the NCAA to lift the suspension placed on Emirates Airlines flights into Nigeria with effective from 5th February 2021.

Since then, it has been back and forth sanction galore between both countries first suspended in March, but only for two weeks, and then resumed till September when it was halted again.

However, last Friday, Nigeria lifted the sanctions placed on Emirates Airlines’ Dubai-Lagos/Abuja operations.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

The minister said that the decision was taken after Emirates relaxed some of the conditions it had imposed on Nigerian flyers, adding that the development was the outcome of lengthy negotiations between the government of Nigeria and its UAE counterpart.

“Today, we received communications from Emirates removing some of the conditions for travelling for which we had concerns.

“Having done that, it is necessary to lift the ban on Emirates. This subsequent lifting of ban is a product of lengthy negotiations between us and them,’’ Sirika said.

Meanwhile, another Gulf nation carrier, Qatar Airways, has announced it will no longer be accepting passengers traveling from five Southern African countries in its global network with immediate effect.

The airline said the decision follows surge in the new COVID-19 Omicron variant across Southern Africa.

The airline will, however, continue to accept passengers for travel into these countries in-line with current restrictions.

The affected destinations in Southern Africa include: Luanda (LAD), Angola; Maputo (MPM), in Mozambique; Johannesburg (JNB), South Africa; Cape Town (CPT), South Africa; Durban (DUR), South Africa; Lusaka (LUN), Zambia; Harare (HRE), Zimbabwe.

The Covid-19 variant was first discovered in South Africa but has since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

With more than 2.95 million Covid-19 cases and 89,783 deaths, South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa.

The main countries targeted by travel shutdowns include South Africa, Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Many countries around the world, including the US, Australia and Japan, moved to try to clamp down on the new variant by restricting flights.

European Union agreed in an emergency meeting to urge all 27 nations in the bloc to restrict travel from southern Africa, with many members having already done so.

United Kingdom has already restricted travel and flights to South Africa, in particular, while the United States, last Friday, announced it is restricting travel from eight southern African countries over fears of a new variant of Covid-19 detected in South Africa, starting Monday, this week.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) last Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern,” saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.

Preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection and there had been a ‘detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology,’ it said in a statement after a closed meeting of independent experts who reviewed the data.

Infections in South Africa had risen steeply in recent weeks, coinciding with detection of the variant now designated as omicron, WHO said.