Wednesday, July 29, 2026

UAE restores ban on Nigerian flights

The authorities had initially fixed Wednesday, June 23, 2021, for resumption of flights.

• June 21, 2021
UAE President, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
UAE President, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

The United Arab Emirates, UAE, has again announced the indefinite suspension of flights from Nigeria to Dubai, barely 48 hours after it lifted the previous ban on Saturday.

Abu Dhabi had placed a ban on travellers from Nigeria into the Arabian country in March after a rift between both countries on breach of COVID-19 protocol.

While the Nigerian government was against the introduction of the COVID-19 rapid antigen test by the UAE, the Middle-East nation disagreed with the Nigerian government’s requirement of a negative PCR test for travellers into the African nation.

The authorities had initially fixed Wednesday, June 23, 2021, for resumption of flights.

However, in a statement on its website on Monday, the airline said the UAE made a U-turn with a new travel update indicating that Lagos and Abuja flights would no longer resume on Wednesday as earlier announced until further notice.

“In line with government directives, passenger flights to and from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) are suspended with effect from 21 June 2021 until further notice.

“Customers travelling to and from Lagos and Abuja will not be accepted for travel. Customers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days are not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE,” the statement read.

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