After a long break due to a frosty relationship between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria, the Emirates Airline on Saturday resumed operations in Nigeria with its Flight EK783 landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
The flight, which departed Dubai at 1030hrs landed in Nigeria’s busiest commercial city at 03.30 pm.
Another Flight EK785, arrived in Abuja after departing Dubai at 1100hours, landing at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at 03.20 pm.
The aircraft being deployed to both Nigerian cities was the Three-Class Boeing 777-300ER, which offers eight luxurious First-Class suites, 42 generous Business Class seats, and over 300 seats in Economy Class.
THISDAY learnt that customers across all classes were able to enjoy the airline’s regional delicacies onboard, as well as its renowned in-flight entertainment system, ice, featuring over 4,500 channels of on-demand entertainment, including Nollywood films and content.
Dubai remains one of the most popular shopping and tourist destination for Nigerian travellers.
The airline said Dubai is currently hosting the world for Expo 2020, until March 2022.
“Through the theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, Expo 2020 Dubai aims to inspire people by showcasing the best examples of collaboration, innovation and cooperation from around the world. Its programme is packed with experiences to suit all ages and interests, including a rich line-up of themed weeks, entertainment, and edutainment. Art and culture fans, as well as food and technology enthusiasts, can explore exhibits, workshops, performances, live shows and more,” the Middle East carrier explained.
Emirates reiterated that all passengers travelling from Nigeria with Dubai as their final destination would require a 48-hour PCR test.
“Passengers must present a valid negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate with a QR code for a test conducted at an approved facility, and validity must be calculated from the time the sample was collected. Upon arrival in Dubai, passengers will undergo an additional Covid-19 PCR test and remain in self-quarantine until the results of the test are received.
“Passengers travelling from Nigeria and transiting in Dubai are required to follow the rules and requirements of their final destination,” the airline also said.
Emirates said it had introduced a comprehensive set of safety measures at every step of the customer journey.
“The airline has also recently introduced contactless technology and scaled up its digital verification capabilities to provide its customers even more opportunities to utilise the IATA Travel Pass, which can now be used across 50 airports served by Emirates,” it added.
With a good relationship restored between the two countries, the Nigerian carrier, Air Peace had also announced that it would resume flights to Dubai on March 1, 2022.
Chinedu Eze
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