Emirates Airline may cut operations to Nigeria, other African countries
Emirates Airline has warned that it may reduce the frequency of its flights to Nigeria and other African countries or cut routes completely if current economic and financial challenges on the continent continue.
Emirates President, Tim Clark, on Tuesday said at a press conference in Dubai that foreign airlines flying to Nigeria had started to refuel abroad, because jet fuel supplies there had become more expensive and scarce as the country battles a hard currency shortage.
He said that Emirates had started a detour to Accra (Ghana) to refuel its daily Abuja-bound flight.
Clark added that the airline had already cut its twice-daily flights to Lagos and Abuja to just one.
“In certain African countries, the currencies have really gone down, so we’re reflecting on a number of these to look at where it’s just not worth us to travel.
Clark added that Emirates’ load factor, a measure of capacity utilisation for the rest of 2016 and 2017 would probably be in the mid-70s to low-80s in percentage terms.
He said there would be some peaks and troughs in that time.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.