Iberia Airline – The foreign exchange scarcity has forced the Spanish airline, Iberia, to suspend flights to Nigeria from May 12, 2016.
Though the national carrier of Spain attributed the decision to the dwindling passenger traffic on the route, findings by Daily Trust indicate that the problem was largely as a result of the foreign exchange scarcity with many foreign airlines unable to repatriate their funds to their home countries.
Regional Commercial Manager of the airline, Mr. Kola Olayinka said the decision of the airline was contained in a letter to its partners in Nigeria.
Olayinka said it was a tough decision that had been taken by the airline in view of the wide acceptance it had received from their passengers since starting operations in Nigeria in 2014.
The airline had suspended operations in Nigeria in 1993 before returning in 2014, operating daily flights from Lagos to Madrid, Spain.
Prior to reopening the Nigerian market, it signed a preliminary merger agreement with British Airways (BA) on November 2009 while the merger was completed on January 21, 2011.
The airline, according to the letter, noted that its business had faced very difficult and exceptional circumstances which prompted the decision.
Iberia’s decision has raised fears among travel agencies amidst ceaseless complaints by foreign airlines over difficulties in accessing foreign exchange.
It was learnt that major foreign airlines have now decided to sell their tickets in dollars to mitigate the effects of the dollar scarcity.
