The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended all outbound flights for Emirates Airlines from Nigeria for 72 hours.
This is contained in a circular issued on Thursday, February 4, which states that the suspension followed a violation of guidelines placed by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF).
Emirates is accused of airlifting passengers from Nigeria using rapid antigen tests done at laboratories, which are not approved by regulatory authorities.
Part of the circular says, “Based on the foregoing and to enable the Nigerian government to put in place the needed infrastructure and logistics for COVID-19 RDT testing for departing passengers, the PTF has directed that Emirates Airlines should either accept passengers without RDT pending when the infrastructure and logistics are put in place or suspend its flights to and from Nigeria until such a time when the required infrastructure and logistics are fully established and implemented.
“Emirates Airlines has not been in compliance with the two options given by the PTF as records obtained from Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) indicate that Emirates Airlines operated the flights from both Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.”
Recall that days ago, operators of Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, released fresh travel conditions for Nigerian passengers, which required passengers to present negative COVID-19 certificate from PCR conducted within 72 hours of the date of departure.