The Federal Government has added Emirates Airlines to the list of airlines barred from operating in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, via a tweet on Saturday, who stated that the order will take effect from Monday, September 21st, 2020.
The tweet read: “The PTF sub-committee met today with EU Ambassadors to discuss Lufthansa, Air France/KLM ban. The meeting progressed well. Emirates Airlines’ situation was reviewed and they are consequently included in the list of those not approved, with effect from Monday, September 21, 2020.”
The Federal Government had last month vowed to enforce the principle of reciprocity in granting permission to airlines to resume operations.
This means that the FG will reciprocate the gesture to countries that had banned flights from Nigeria.
Before the resumption of international flights in the country, the Federal Government had announced that Air France, KLM, Etihad, RwandAir, Air Namibia, Royal Air Maroc, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines were not granted approval to commence flight operations.
Cabo Verde and South African airlines were also denied approval as international flights had yet to resume in their countries.
However, airlines granted permission to operate are Middle East Airline, British Airways, Delta, Qatar, Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Air Peace, Virgin Atlantic, Asky Airlines, Africa World Airways, Air Cote D’ Ivoire, Kenya Airways, EgyptAir and Turkish Airlines.
