y Uche Amunike
Emirates airlines has confirmed that it will restart operations in the country by resuming its Lagos-Dubai flights, effective October 1, 2024, as a way of offering massive connectivity for Nigerian travelers.
According to information assessed from the Emirates website, the airline will resume services and operate a daily service between Lagos and Dubai. This, they said, would offer customers plenty of choices and connectivity from Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, to and from Dubai.
The airline stated: ‘The service will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER. EK783 will depart Dubai at 0945hrs, arriving in Lagos at 1520hrs; the return flight EK784 will leave Lagos at 1730hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0510hrs the next day. Tickets can be booked now on emirates.com via travel agents.’
According to the Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer of the Emirates airlines, Adnan Kazim, they look forward to resuming their services to Nigeria and intend to reconnect tourists and business travelers, not only on the Lagos-Dubai route, but also, to their numerous other networks.
His words: ‘We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and we hope to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations.’
He expressed his gratitude to the Nigerian government for partnering with their airlines, and supporting them in re-establishing the Lagos-Dubai route, as they anticipate welcoming their passengers back on board.
They further stated that the implication of resuming operations in Nigeria will include the following: ‘Emirates operates to 19 gateways in Africa with 157 flights per week from Dubai, with further reach to an additional 130 regional points in Africa through its codeshare and interline partnerships with South African Airways, Airlink, Royal Air Maroc, Tunis Air, among others.’
‘As a major economic hub in Africa, Nigeria and the UAE have built strong bilateral trade relations over the years, headlined by Lagos as the nation’s commercial centre. With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further bolster the trade relationship by offering more than 300 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity, in and out of Lagos every week.’
They added that their cargo arm will also ‘import vital goods such as pharmaceuticals and electronics as well as general cargo from key markets such as the UAE, India and Hong Kong. Keeping trade flowing seamlessly,” assuring the quick and efficient transportation of the goods.
More information from their website revealed that there is enough entertainment for customers as their aircraft serving Lagos will kick off operations with 8 first class suites, 42 business class seats, as well as 304 seats in economy class, with the assurance that while in flight, customers have more than 6500 channels of global entertainment to choose from. These include 23 Nigerian movies, among others.
Their words: ‘Emirates Boeing 777-300ER serving Lagos will operate with eight First Class suites, 42 Business Class seats and 304 seats in Economy Class,” adding that “customers can tune in to over 6,500 channels of global entertainment, including 23 Nigerian movies,” among others.’
