The airline made this known in a letter it wrote to the Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sitika, dated July 22 2020 and signed by Sheik Majid Al Mualla, the DSVP International Affairs.
The letter explained that as of July 2022, Emirates had $85 million of funds awaiting repatriation due to non-availability of dollars in Nigeria and this figure has been rising by more than $10 million every month, as the ongoing operational costs of the airline’s 11 weekly flights to Lagos and five to Abuja continue to accumulate.
The mega carrier said the funds “are urgently needed to meet our operational costs and maintain the commercial viability of our services to Nigeria.”
It adds: “We simply cannot continue to operate at the current level in the face of mounting losses, especially in the challenging post COVID-19 climate. Emirates did try to stem the losses by proposing to pay for fuel in Nigeria in naira, which would have at least reduced one element of our on-going costs, however this request was denied by the supplier. This means that not only are Emirates’ revenues accumulating, we also have to send hard currency into Nigeria to sustain our own operations. Meanwhile, our revenues are out of reach and not even earning credit interest.”
The airline also explained to the Minister that it took its management time before it arrived at the decision to cut down its flights to Nigeria.
“Indeed, we have made every effort to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to find a solution to this issue. Our Senior Vice-President met with the Deputy Governor of the CBN in May and followed up on the meeting by letter to the Governor himself the following months, however, no positive response was received. Meetings were also held with Emirates’ own bank in Nigeria and in collaboration with IATA (the International Air Transport Association) to discuss improving FX allocation, but with limited success.”
The letter also said that despite Emirates considerable efforts, the situation continued to deteriorate.
“We are now in the unfortunate position of having to cut flights, to mitigate against further losses going forward.
“While we appreciate this issue is primarily a financial one, any support you could kindly provide would be warmly welcomed by Emirates. We are confident that your valuable involvement would make a real difference in improving this very difficult situation,” the airline also said in the letter.
Emirates, however, emphasised that if the Minister would respond positively to its request of unlocking these funds for repatriation, it would re-evaluate its decision.