Amid the continuous depreciation of the naira in the forex market, Turkish Airlines has commenced issuing tickets in US Dollars and no more in Naira, Nigeria’s local currency.

This is according to a message sent to its partners by the airline yesterday.

Recall in April, the airlines alongside other airlines through APG Interline E-Ticketing (IEG) said passengers will no longer be able to buy tickets in naira in the coming months.

The airline’s message to its partners reads;

“Dear Business Partner, Kindly be informed that as of today:

“Only and Y fare classes will be available on GDSs for sale in Nigeria. Unused tickets will be upgraded to Y or C class for voluntary reissue cases, fare and tax difference shall be collected for inbound or outbound travel.

“Multi city routes will not be combined with fares. All fare classes will be available for sale on Turkish Airlines official website and mobile APP.

“Please kindly inform your subagents, members of staff and your clients accordingly.”

What this means is that passengers can longer purchase Turkish Airlines tickets in naira. Only the dollar will be used in purchasing tickets.

Turkish Airlines is one of the airlines on the APG IET platform that fly into Nigeria.

Naira traded at N679.5/$1 in the early hours of yesterday, 18th August 2022 at the peer-to-peer FX market, indicating a 0.13 per cent appreciation against the US dollar compared to N680.4/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.

Naira stabilises, exchanges at N429.38 to the dollar

In another development, Emirates Airlines says it will suspend all flights to Nigeria from September 1 due to its inability to repatriate revenue from the country.

In a statement by the Airlines’ Public Relations Manager, Rula Tadros yesterday, said the “difficult decision” was taken to limit “further losses and impact on our operational costs” that continue to accumulate in the market.

“Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective 1 September 2022,” the airline said.

It said, “Emirates has tried every avenue to address our ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, and we have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution.”
“Regrettably there has been no progress,” the Airline added.

Emirates said it will be working to help impacted customers make alternative travel arrangements wherever possible.

The airline said should there be any positive developments in the coming days regarding Emirates’ blocked funds in Nigeria, it will re-evaluate its decision.

“We remain keen to serve Nigeria, and our operations provide much-needed connectivity for Nigerian travellers, providing access to trade and tourism opportunities to Dubai, and to our broader network of over 130 destinations,” the Airline said.

The move by the airline comes less than three weeks after it announced in a letter addressed to Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, that it will reduce the number of flights to Nigeria from August 15 due to its failure to repatriate $85 million revenue from the country.
Emirates stated in the letter that the figure has been rising by more than $10 million every month, while operational costs of 11 weekly flights to Lagos and five to Abuja continue to accumulate.