The United Arab Emirates (UAE) General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has written the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, begging the Nigerian government to restore Emirates Airline’s 21 weekly flights to Nigeria.
UAE also described the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) action to limit Emirates flights to once weekly as unjustifiable.
It also accused Air Peace of abandoning Sharjah Airport, but the Nigerian carrier insisted that it was the COVID-19 lockdown that forced it and other international airlines to leave Sharjah airport.
In a letter dated December 10, 2021, and signed by the Minister of Economy who also doubles as the Chairman of GCAA Board, Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, the GCAA requested that the federal government restore Emirates’ Winter Schedule.
The letter expressed sadness that the federal government withdrew the Winter Schedule because UAE refused to allow Air Peace’s request for three flights a week slot at Sharjah Airport.
UAE argued that Air Peace abandoned its operations at Sharjah and later decided to go back, at a time the slots at the airport had 140 per cent capacity.
According to the letter, GCAA said the action taken by the NCAA regarding the Air Peace’s approval at Sharjah is “not in line with the spirit of the agreed air services arrangements between our two nations.”
Emirates Airline had in a travel notice on its website on Friday announced the suspension of operations between Nigeria and Dubai until both countries resolved the fresh diplomatic row.
The UAE flag carrier said the suspension would start tomorrow (Monday) until when Nigeria and the Arab nation “solve the ongoing issue”.
Al-Marri said Air Peace, which initially operated at Sharjah Airport, had shifted to Dubai Airport and then returned to Sharjah Airport, saying the airport authority cannot keep their slots after the airline had 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.”
The UAE aviation authority further said Sharjah Airport is currently operating at 140 per cent slot capacity — and that the country had made goodwill by accommodating Air Peace with one slot of the three requested.
It, however, urged NCAA to review the decision and restore the approval of the Emirates Airline Winter Scheule, as filed.
“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.
But reacting to the allegation that Air Peace requested to operate from another airport and later went back to Sharjah, the Chairman of the Nigerian carrier, Mr. Allen Onyema told THISDAY that the airline never left Sharjah until international airlines operating to UAE shut down operations for COVID-19 lockdown.
According to him, the airline had never made any request to leave Sharjah at any other time.
“When we requested to operate from Dubai airport in 2019, our request was turned down. So, we decided to operate from Sharjah. We continued to operate from Sharjah until the lockdown. We never applied to go to any other airport,” Onyema said.
Also, in a letter addressed to Sirika and signed by Air Peace’s Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, dated December 11, 2021, the airline said it had never been given slots at the Dubai International Airport.
“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,” the airline explained.
The Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, had earlier explained that the reason why the government withdrew 20 flights from Emirates, leaving the Middle East carrier with one flight to Abuja, was because that was the same way UAE treated Air Peace.
Air Peace had requested three flights a week but UAE authorities approved only one flight a week for the airline.
In line with the principle of reciprocity, the Nigerian government had to do the same for Emirates.
Also, Emirates Airline on Friday suspended its flights to Nigeria with effect from December 13, citing the decision for the federal government to withdraw its flights to Nigeria, except one.
Emirates Airline had approval from the Minister of Aviation to operate 14 flights a week to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and seven flights a week to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, making it 21 flights.
Before the lockdown, Air Peace was operating three weekly flights from Sharjah Airport.
Meanwhile, a pressure group in Nigeria’s aviation sector, Aviation Round Table (ART), has commended the federal government for reciprocating the UAE flight frequency into that country by Nigeria’s flag carrier.
President of the group, Dr. Gabriel Olowo, also commended the Nigerian government in a statement issued yesterday for reciprocating UAE’s choice of entry points into Nigeria.
Olowo said in the group’s statement that the federal government was on the right course on the reciprocity order against Emirate Airlines routes and entry points.
Emirates Airline had before now operated 21 weekly flights into Lagos and Abuja airports whereas the UAE granted Nigeria’s flag carrier, Air Peace, only one weekly flight to its Sharjah Airport.
This is even though Nigeria’s flag carrier applied for only three weekly flights into the UAE.’
“I am indeed very elated to read the current decision by the government that our long-time agitation on schedule reciprocity to Nigeria is finally being addressed,” he said.
Chinedu Eze
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