A general view of an Emirates Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft being modified to provide additional cargo capacity with seats removed from the economy class cabin, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in this undated picture obtained June 25, 2020. Emirates Airlines/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Emirates will resume some flights to Nigeria this month after the Central Bank of Nigeria released a portion funds the Dubai airline had earned in the country but had not been able to repatriate.

An airline spokesperson said flights to Lagos will resume from Sept. 11, though it is not possible to resume flights to Abuja in September because resources had already been stood down.

“We continue to engage with the Nigerian authorities to ensure the repatriation of our outstanding and future funds may continue without hindrance,” the spokesperson said, welcoming what it said was the central bank’s move to release a portion of its blocked funds.

Read more: Emirates to suspend Nigeria flights from September over trapped funds

The airline did not say how much money had been released or how much remained blocked.

The state-owned carrier last month announced it was suspending all flights to Nigeria from Sept. 1 after it said it had made no progress with local authorities to access its funds.

Nigeria’s Central Bank later said it had released $265 million to airlines to settle outstanding ticket sales.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the largest airline group, had said that by July Nigeria was blocking airlines from repatriating $464 million in revenue.

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(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by David Goodman)