NANTA to meet with Emirates over dollar airfare dispute

The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies is set to meet with representatives of Emirates to deliberate on the airline’s decision to sell tickets in dollars to Nigerians.

The former President of NANTA, Susan Akpdoriaye, expressed frustration over the situation, saying, “Emirates cannot come out in the open and say they want to sell in dollars without authorisation. They will be sanctioned. Transactions in Nigeria should be done in our local currency; that is the law.”

Akpdoriaye stated that NANTA had earlier engaged with Emirates to address the airline’s ticket sales in dollars.

“When we heard Emirates was selling in dollars, the new president and his team visited Emirates and said Nigerian law does not allow you to do this. But lo and behold, the government permitted them.

“They sent emails to all their issuing agents and I got mine and when I got my mail, I called and asked why this was happening and this was the response I got.

 “Part of the condition the airline gave was to sell in dollars, and we were told that the government agreed. Are we taking five steps forward and 10 steps backwards? And what they have done is put fresh demand on the dollar,” she remarked.

She emphasised the broader implications for the economy and travel agencies, stating, “We want Emirates to come back, but we don’t want them to come back and kill our economy and take us back to square one. We are not excited about the outcome. Everybody is complaining bitterly because we know what this will cost.”

“We, the excos, have decided that we are going to engage further, that even if they want to sell in dollars, they should still give the option of naira.

“Apart from that, selling in dollars will exclude 70 per cent of some of our members in business, and that is not good for us. So we will present our case to them and present some of our ideas, and some of the ideas we are presenting to them is that even if they want to restrict the naira, they should at least not close it.”

The President of NANTA, Yinka Folami, stated that the Emirates’ current practices were ambiguous.

“They have started to publish some fares; they have not started operations, but they are just forward selling.

“It is not a norm that they should be selling in dollars. So what we are trying to do is confirm from them. Everything they are doing suggests that they will sell in dollars. So we are trying to reconfirm from them what it’ll be exactly. That’s the conversation we are having with them now,” he asserted.

Also, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Michael Achimugu, noted that transactions should adhere to local currency norms.

“They should not be selling in dollars. Even if the site mentions dollars, I think they are going to sell in naira. It could be written in dollars but should be paid in naira. It will be an anomaly,” Achimugu stated.

In October 2022, Emirates Airlines suspended flight operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate funds trapped in the country.

Emirates stated that the suspension of its operations in October was due to $85m in revenue being trapped in Nigeria.

On November 19, 2023, Keyamo mentioned that Emirates Airlines would soon announce the exact date for resuming flight operations to Nigeria.

He also noted that the Federal Government was working on some details regarding the resumption.