COVID-19 Travelling Requirements: FG Mulls Emirates, KLM Suspension

Federal Government is presently considering suspending operations of both Emirates and KLM into Nigeria following the decision of the two to up COVID-19 tests for Nigerian passengers.

On Monday, the Federal Government said the operations of the carriers would be suspended if their countries insisted that Nigerian passengers must carry out an additional rapid test before leaving Nigeria for the two countries.

Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, disclosed this at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

On Saturday, Operators of airports in the UAE released fresh travel requirements for Nigerian passengers and restricted Nigerian passengers transiting in UAE to Dubai International Airport.

Speaking on the situation, Nuhu explained that both UAE and Netherlands brought extra requirements for Nigerian passengers traveling to their countries.

He said, “In addition to the requirements agreed for PCR tests before you depart from Nigeria to their countries, they are also adding an extra requirement of having a rapid test done four hours before departure.

“You will do the PCR test within 72 hours and in four hours before departure you will do the rapid test.”