The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority‘s (NCAA) action to limit Emirates’ flights to once weekly is unjustifiable.
The letter dated December 10 was addressed to the Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, and signed by Abdulla Bin Touq Al Mari, minister of economy and chairman of the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
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.”
On Friday, Emirates announced the suspension of operations between Nigeria and Dubai until both countries resolved the fresh diplomatic row.
In a travel notice on its website on Friday evening, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flag carrier said the suspension will start on Monday until when Nigeria and the Arab nation “solve the ongoing issue”.
Al Mari 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 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 with respect to 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…