One week after Emirates restarted flights to Nigeria, the carrier has been forced to cut flights again. The latest suspension comes after regulators slashed the airline's 21 weekly services to just one. The move is a response to UAE authorities not permitting Nigerian carrier Air Peace to fly to Sharjah thrice-weekly.

Here we go again

Exactly five days after Emirates resumed flights to Abuja and Lagos, the airline was hit with new restrictions by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). On 10th December, the NCAA ordered that Emirates will only be allowed to fly a once-weekly service in Abuja on Thursdays. This is down from the 21 weekly flights approved when services restarted.

The Dubai-based carrier has responded in kind, according to Reuters. Starting Monday, 13th December, Emirates will suspend flights to Nigeria indefinitely. The end of flights brings to an end a seven-day ceasefire the two sides reached after flight bans were first enforced in March.

In a statement, the carrier said,

"With the recently imposed directive limiting Emirates to operate one flight per week to Nigeria via Abuja, Emirates will be suspending its flights between Nigeria and Dubai from 13th December 2021, until the UAE and Nigerian authorities work on a solution to the ongoing issue."

Why this time?

It's no secret that the Emirates' permission to fly to Nigeria is rooted in politics. The latest suspension is a result of an ongoing slot dispute between the UAE and Nigeria. In particular, schedules were slashed after Air Peace was given a once-weekly slot to fly to Sharjah Airport despite requesting three.

This infuriated Nigerian authorities, which reciprocally cut Emirates down to one weekly flight. In a statement to AirInsight, NCAA Director-General Captain Musa Nuhu said,

"The Nigerian Government was gracious to grant Emirates Airlines 21 frequencies it requested for...However, Air Peace only requested for three weekly flights to Sharjah, not even Dubai airport, but the GCAA refused the airline. It only approved one weekly frequency to the airline. The only excuse they gave was that they don’t have enough slots. Where is the justice in this? That is the capital flight out of Nigeria. Nigeria should protect its own.”

Tit-for-tat exchanges in the aviation world over slots is hardly new, and we've seen several cases in the last year alone. However, for Emirates, this complicates things further. As the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria is an important market for connecting travelers and VFR travel. Given the thousands of diaspora globally, the carrier has a bustling schedule out of Lagos and Abuja.

However, since March, this business has been going to competitors like Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, British Airways, and more. For now, it seems like Emirates will have to wait for nearly a year before it can return to Nigeria as usual.

What do you think about Nigeria and Emirates' arguments? Let us know in the comments!