Why Emirates kept all employees for 18 months despite flight suspension

Emirates Airlines has retained all staff and continued to pay salaries during the past 18 months that it suspended flights to Nigeria, results seen by BusinessDay Sunday showed.

The airline, which suspended operations in November 2022 due to its inability to repatriate its withheld funds, stopped paying monthly salaries and rent for all its offices during the period it suspended operations in Nigeria Not Nigeria.

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The Emirates, which announced the resumption of flight operations from October 1, 2024, also did not lay off any of their employees because they knew that the flight suspension was only for a certain period of time and they did not want to bother hiring new staff when they resumed recruit flight operations to Nigeria.

Kingsley Nwokeoma, president of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN), told BusinessDay Sunday that Emirates retained its employees because they knew they would not leave Nigeria.

“Emirates has hired even more staff. This is an airline that plans. Yes, they stopped the flights but didn’t leave. Therefore, it is easier to come back as trained staff are already on site. They can’t keep the staff (again). So when they are ready, they can get started,” Nwokeoma said.

Susan Akporaiye of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) said she believed Emirates retained its employees because they knew they would still come back.

“They knew it was a temporary situation, although they never expected it to last this long. If they had laid off all their staff, the problem of having to start recruiting again would have become onerous. So I know they don’t want to go through that hassle and, most importantly, they have the money.

“It doesn’t make sense that people keep their employees for a year without anything happening and yet don’t fire anyone. Their rent continued to be paid and all staff were paid. However, some employees left not because they were fired, but because they didn’t like the fact that they were just idle and doing nothing. Some moved, some went to other airlines,” Akporaiye said.

She explained that the airline could afford to pay salaries because money was not their problem.

“This airline is very rich. Other airlines may not be able to pay their employees’ salaries if they do nothing. I am also aware that the Emirates in Nigeria also have jurisdiction over West Africa. So that could be another reason why they retained employees,” Akporaiye explained.

Commenting on the resumption of flights to Nigeria, Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates said: “We are pleased to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and we hope to bring leisure and business travelers back to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations. We thank the Government of Nigeria for their partnership and support in restoring this route and look forward to welcoming passengers back on board.”

With the resumption of operations to Nigeria, Emirates flies to 19 gateways in Africa with 157 flights per week from Dubai and reaches an additional 130 regional points in Africa through its codeshare and interline partnerships with South African Airways, Airlink and Royal Air Maroc, Tunis Air, among others.

As a major economic hub in Africa, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have developed strong bilateral trade relationships over the years, most notably Lagos as the country’s commercial hub.

With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further strengthen trade ties by offering more than 300 tonnes of additional cargo capacity to and from Lagos each week. Emirates Group recently announced a 20-week bonus for its employees following the company’s exceptional financial performance in the financial year.

Dubai’s Emirates Group announced annual profits of $5.1 billion on May 13, up 71 percent, setting the airline a new record for the second consecutive year.

Citing strong customer demand, it said consolidated profit reached $8.1 billion in the last two years, surpassing losses in the pandemic-hit 2020-2022 period.

“Emirates Group has once again raised the bar to deliver new record performance,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said in a statement.

“The group’s excellent financial position today places us in a strong position for future growth and success. This will enable us to invest to provide even better products and services to our customers and stakeholders and provide greater value,” said Sheikh Ahmed.