Nigerians sent-off Ethiopian Airline flight to Dubai

All Nigerians onboard Ethiopian Airlines to Dubai have been sent off the aircraft.

This was confirmed by some of the passengers, who shared their experiences, on Monday.

According to them, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has barred airlines from conveying Nigerian passengers to the country as the diplomatic row between the two nations deepens.

What they are saying

One of the passengers, who preferred anonymity, said, “UAE says no entry for Nigerian passengers from any airline. Ethiopian just offloaded all passengers heading to Dubai. We are voiding Dubai bound tickets.

“From the look of things, we have to go through other nations to get to our destinations. I have to pay over N500,000 to travel via Lufthansa.”

Nigerians travelling to Dubai have mostly been using other airlines for their trips since the drama with Emirates Airline started months ago, another passenger told Nairametrics.

What you should know

This happened hours after the restrictions imposed on Emirates by the Federal Government took effect.

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Aviation, had withdrawn the Winter schedule earlier approved for Emirates to operate 21 weekly flights to Nigeria.

The government instead gave Emirates one weekly slot in Abuja, the nation’s capital, in a tit-for-tat measure after the Sharjah Airport Authorities reportedly denied Air Peace the three slots it requested.

In case you missed it

Air Peace Airlines had described the claim by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that it operates from another airport other than Sharjah International Airport as deliberate damage on its brand.

In a letter issued to the Ministry of Aviation on Saturday, Air Peace, stated that it takes very serious exception to that letter, as it believes that the Minister and the Chairman of the Board of UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) may have been misinformed of the true position of the issues in discourse as no one in such an exalted position and office would deliberately push out such untrue statement.

It stated, “We did several evacuation flights out of Sharjah. So, we never left Sharjah Airport nor did we at any time “shifted” and operated out of DXB (Dubai Airport). The letter deliberately painted us as unserious while at the same time, suggesting that we look for other airports in the country to operate from.”