The United Arab Emirates (UAE) General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has pleaded with the Nigerian Government to restore the 21 weekly Emirates Airline flights to Nigeria. In a letter written to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the UAE's GCAA Board Chairman and Minister of Economy, Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri expressed sadness that the federal government withdrew its 21 weekly flight from the Winter Schedule because the UAE refused Air Peace's request for a three flights weekly slot at Sharjah Airport.
Al-Marri said that the withdrawal by the Nigerian government was “not in line with the spirit of the agreed air services arrangements between our two nations.”
He explained that Air Peace had initially operated at Sharjah Airport and abandoned it for Dubai Airport and now wants to go back to Sharjah Airport, adding that the airport authority could not keep the slots after the Airline left.
“It would be unreasonable for an airline to expect any airport to maintain their slots when they ceased operating at that airport,” the GCAA chairman said.
“The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presents its compliments to the Federal Ministry of Aviation of Nigeria and has the honour to refer to the letter Ref. No.
NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/329 dated 9th December of 20921, whereby Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) notified the country manager, Emirates Airline (EK) in Nigeria, regarding the withdrawal of the ministerial approval granted to that airline concerning their Winter Schedule.
“The NCAA further advised EK that his withdrawal become effective on Sunday 12, 2021, and hence EK is granted approval to operate only one weekly passenger frequency to Abuja on Thursdays.
“The GCAA has the honour to highlight that such a decision by the NCAA is totally unjustified especially, at it has come to our attention that their action is being taken against the background of Air Peace not securing all 3 slots at Sharjah Airport which they desire.
“Air Peace initially operated at Sharjah Airport, shifted to Dubai Airport, and then returned to Sharjah Airport. It would be unreasonable for an airline to expect any airport to maintain their slots when they ceased operating at that airport.”
“We wish to kindly advise you that Sharjah Airport is currently operating at 140 per cent slot capacity, but with goodwill and tremendous efforts on their side, this Airport was able to accommodate Air Peace with one of the three slots that this airline requested,” the letter adds.
“The GCAA wishes to stress that the action being taken by the NCAA is not in line with the spirit of the agreed air services arrangements between our two nations.
“As we are both aware, the relations between our two brotherly countries are vintage, one hallmark being the recent visit of the President of Nigeria to the UAE, which certainly mirrored the status of the positive relations.
“Finally, we suggest that Air Peace should consider flying their two flights to any UAE airport at which there are available slots. As expected, the GCAA will support Air Peace in this activity, where required.
“Your Excellency, your kind support is anticipated so that the NCAA reviews their decision and restores the approval of the Emirates Airline Winter Schedule, as filed. In this regard, we wish to reiterate that this is purely an operational matter between Air Peace and Sharjah Airport, and in any case, it should have absolutely no implication for Emirates Airline.
Also, the Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide argued that the airline was never given a flight slot at the Dubai Airport, adding that “Slot availability was used to deny us operating from that popular airport as it was our first choice. It was the politics of slot unavailability that did not allow us to operate into Dubai Airport directly.
The lack of flight slot angle forced us to approach the Sharjah Airport as a last resort. We were welcomed by the government and people of Sharjah. While we were denied slots in their most important airport, the Dubai Airport, Emirates has always enjoyed red carpet treatment in Nigeria where they were given our most important airports- Lagos and Abuja where they operate a total of 21 flights weekly. We only asked for three flights weekly at the Sharjah Airport and we got the same and started operations on the 5th of July, 2019 until COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.”
Speaking on the development, the Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu had earlier said the decision to withdraw the 20 flights from Emirates Airline was in retaliation to how the UAE treated Air Peace, noting that the suspension of the 20 flight with effect from December 13 was with the approval of the Aviation Minister.
