Emirates will reinstate its second daily service to Lagos and resume operations to Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, with four weekly flights from December 15, 2017.
Similar to the current daily service between Dubai and Lagos, the added frequencies to Lagos will be operated with Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, offering eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class. The reinstated service to Abuja will be served by a 360-seat Boeing 777-300 in a three-class configuration.
Orhan Abbas, Emirates Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Africa, said Nigeria is a key market for Emirates and its importance is reflected by the fact that we will add 11 weekly flights between Dubai and two major cities in Nigeria, Abuja and Lagos.
"This is great news for both our business and leisure customers and highlights our commitment to providing travellers in Nigeria with not only the very latest in aircraft innovations but also increased connectivity.
“We thank the Nigerian authorities for facilitating the reinstatement of our flights to Abuja and Lagos which will, in turn, greatly benefit Nigerian tourism, trade, investment and economy at large," he said.
By operating a double daily service to Lagos and four weekly flights to Abuja, Emirates will offer travellers in Nigeria very convenient and comfortable access to Dubai, and onwards to other destinations on the Emirates network, including more than 35 destinations in the Middle East and Far East, 18 destinations in South Asia and over 20 destinations in the Americas and Australia.
Many of these destinations are served by Emirates’ iconic A380 aircraft.
Apart from the increased passenger capacity, the new flights will provide up to 23 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight, giving businesses and traders more opportunities for increased imports such as electronic goods, construction equipment and pharmaceuticals, and exports such as fresh produce and perishables.
The added Lagos flight EK781 will depart Dubai every day at 03h55hrs and arrive in Lagos at 09h05hrs. The return flight EK782 will depart Lagos at 12h40hrs and arrive in Dubai at 22h55hrs. The Abuja flight EK785 will depart Dubai every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 10h35hrs and arrive in Abuja at 15h35hrs. The return flight EK786 will depart Abuja at 18h55hrs and arrive in Dubai at 04h35hrs the next day. The arrival of the flight in Dubai is conveniently timed to enable a shorter transit period for customers connecting to Emirates’ early morning flights to popular destinations such as New York, Houston, London, Beirut, Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Mumbai, Delhi and Sydney, amongst others, which are popular cities for Nigerian travellers.
Emirates launched services to Nigeria on 2 January 2004 with four flights per week from Dubai to Lagos linked with Accra in Ghana, using an A330-200 aircraft.