Travel agents and airlines have accused United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, including the country’s Immigration officials of using COVID-19 tests and other means to discourage passengers who travel to Dubai with foreign airlines.
They observed that Emirates authorities have imbedded disposition of making things more difficult for passengers that travel with other carriers, including more delays at Immigration, exaggerated scrutiny of their documents and sometimes disqualifying them from entering the country, but the authorities are lenient on passengers that arrive the country with Emirates Airlines.
Also, THISDAY investigation revealed that COVID-19 provided greater opportunity for Dubai authorities to stiffen competition against other airlines that operate to Dubai by introducing stringent COVID-19 protocols against passengers that travel with foreign carriers.
A travel agent told THISDAY that Dubai authorities would not want to write letters to the airlines; rather, they would invite the country managers of airlines to complain to them or give them directives so that they would not have written evidence or reference.
“A case in point is what happened last year when they were turning passengers of other airlines back, especially Nigerian passengers, saying that they did not pass PCR test even when those tests were administered by the centres recommended by the authorities and the results came out negative. It has been their mode of operation, trying to frustrate travellers who arrive the country with other airlines.
In exclusive interview he granted THISDAY last year, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika threw light on the fact that Dubai might be using COVID-19 tests as marketing strategy to discourage other airlines from flying to the Emirates.
He explained that when the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) suspended Air France-KLM, Lufthansa for introducing Rapid PCR test, the airlines withdrew the test but Emirates insisted on administering it.
Sirika said that PSC did not see the wisdom in Emirates’ decision to insist on Rapid PCR test, adding that despite the pressures from Nigerians who travel to Dubai or are resident in Dubai, the Presidential Steering Committee insisted that the position of Nigeria on COVID-19 protocol must be adhered to.
“Nigerians were so eager to travel to Dubai and we feel their pains. Some of them were traveling back to their jobs. Some of them were travelling for school, some for a medical reason, some even for leisure, which is allowed. But we thought that this is unfair treatment and this measure was only applied to Nigeria.
“If they had applied it to our region and their reason was that there were fake COVID-19 results from Nigeria, but there were also fake results in Germany, in UAE, in France, in England, in the UK, US and everywhere. So, that was not a reason and if the reason were that they were afraid that we would come and infect passengers, we would say that we have managed COVID-19 extremely very well in Nigeria. Until today the death is below 3000. So, when we put that across to them, they said no, because we were not testing. Well, even if it is so that we were not testing, we were also not seeing people go into graves in Nigeria unexplained, unusually dying. And we know that in one day, 3,000 people were dying in Italy and France, and UK. And when they opened their borders in Dubai, we saw how many people were dying per day.
“But in Nigeria from the beginning of COVID-19 till date, we are still under 3,000. So, we refused. But because of pressure from people to open, we said to Emirates ‘, okay we agree, come and test us a million times, we are ready.’ You should come and test if you want to test 20 times a day do so, we are ready, let’s start. Then they said, okay, we will start but you must fly Emirates. If you fly Ethiopia or you fly Qatar or fly Turkish or you fly EgyptAir or British Airways, you must remain 14 days in the country you are transiting through. So, if you tell a Nigerian that he must stay 14 days in Addis Ababa or 14 days in Cairo before you can proceed to Dubai, does he have the visa for that country? Or does he even have the money to pay for a hotel and feeding? And some people are only going there for a 10-day trip. On the 10-day trip, you have already spent 14 days in another country. And this is also country-specific. This is also discriminatory; so, we refused,” Sirika explained.
However, the former President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Bankole Bernard said UAE action was justified.
“There is what we call comparative advantage. It is what is given to you as a right owner over other people. Emirates knows that advantage and it has the ability to maximise that advantage. Does Nigeria recognise that comparative advantage? So I cannot blame Emirates for maximising its comparative advantage,” he said.
THISDAY
