Emirates Resumes Dubai-Lagos Flights on October 1, 2024
The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) commenced flights to Nigeria on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
The airline’s flight arrived at Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos on Tuesday afternoon, as Nigerians commemorated 64 years of independence from British colonial control.
Air traffic controllers reported that the over-eight-hour flight landed at the airport at 3:32 p.m.
Emirates Airlines discontinued its Dubai-Lagos flights in November 2022 due to its difficulty to repatriate stuck assets in Nigeria amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Nigeria and the UAE have a long history of restricting flights between the two nations due to unresolved problems under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). Visa restrictions were later imposed as diplomatic tensions between Nigeria and the UAE, a popular destination for Nigerian migrants and tourists, remained high.
However, in September 2023, President Bola Tinubu met with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi to smooth up the rough edges in the two countries’ diplomatic relations.
In May 2024, Emirates Airlines announced that daily flights between Lagos and Dubai would resume on October 1, 2024. Two months later, the Federal Government of Nigeria secured an agreement with the UAE to grant Nigerian passport holders visas for travel to the Arab nation.
