SocialMediaTrends: Reaction trails UAE’s u-turn on flight slots and Nigeria’s exit from UK red list

The social media space on Tuesday was rife with reactions to a peace move by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over flight slots.

Recall that Emirates Airline had earlier refused to grant Nigerian flight line, Air Peace, the three slots it requested for and only permitted landing at the Sharjah airport once a week.

The Nigerian government however reciprocated with a withdrawal of the 21 slots earlier approved for Emirates, replacing it with only one weekly flight slot.

But the DCAA, in a recent move to squash the diplomatic squabble have now issued Air Peace seven slots as a “gesture of goodwill and in support of the UAE and Nigerian relations”.

In a letter dated December 13th to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Peace, Allen Onyema entitled “Operations of Air Services between Dubai and Nigerian” signed by the DCAA Director-General, Mohammed A. Ahli, the Arab nation stated that it valued relations between the two countries and expressed readiness to “operate with utmost confidence to/from Dubai at the soonest”.

Nigerians who had earlier called out the country’s Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika for reciprocating the gesture have now showered him with praises for the “diplomatic language” the country adopted.

See reactions below:

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Meanwhile, United Kingdom’s removal of Nigeria and other nations from its travel ‘red list’ over Coronavirus-Omicron variant concerns also generated social media reactions.

Recall that on December 5, the UK government announced Nigeria among a list of countries where travellers except Britons could not fly in from.

Here was how Nigerians reacted to the development:

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