Air travel between the US and Nigeria has been adversely affected by increasingly strict US visa and immigration rules, including shorter visa expiration dates, stricter entry requirements and a complete suspension of certain categories of Nigerian travelers, Daily Trust reports.
President Donald Trump has imposed stricter visa rules and a complete visa ban for Nigerians visiting the United States starting January 1, 2026.
The development has significantly slowed passenger movement between Nigeria and the United States, and travel industry officials say the worst is yet to come.
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This latest development comes in the wake of the recent passenger boom on Nigeria-U.S. flights due to American Airlines increasing its flights.
According to a report by Daily Trust, the US Embassy in Nigeria announced last year that it would suspend issuing visas to Nigerians starting January 1, 2026.
This follows the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of State to partially suspend visa issuance for nationals of 19 countries, including Nigeria, Angola, Cuba, Venezuela, and several other countries, effective January 1, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
Effective January 1, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. ET, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 10998 on “Restrictions and Restrictions on the Entry of Aliens to Protect the Security of the United States,” the Department of State will be conducting a For nonimmigrant B-1/B-2 visitor visas, F, M, J student visas, exchange visitor visas, and all immigrant visas.
While imposing this restriction, the United States waived immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran. Dual nationals applying with passports of nationalities not subject to suspension. Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for U.S. government employees under 8 USC 1101(a)(27)(D). Participants and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) of certain major sporting events. ”
According to a Daily Trust report, the Nigeria-US route is one of the busiest international routes operated by foreign airlines.
Currently, two US-based airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, operate direct flights between Nigeria and the US, while foreign airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines, EgyptAir, British Airways, and Kenya Airways also fly to the US through their respective hubs.
In 2024, the Open Skies Agreement between Nigeria and the United States officially entered into force, 20 years after the United States struck a deal with Nigerian airlines that missed out on Nigeria’s boom.
On May 17, 2024, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria announced that the U.S.-Nigeria Air Transportation Agreement, which had been in place provisionally since 2000, entered into force on May 13, 2024.
According to the statement, “This bilateral agreement establishes a modern civil aviation relationship with Nigeria consistent with the United States’ Open Skies international aviation policy and commitment to high standards of aviation safety and security.”
“The agreement includes provisions that allow for unlimited capacity and frequency, open route rights, an open charter system, and open code-sharing opportunities.
“This agreement with Nigeria is a step forward in liberalizing Africa’s international civil aviation sector, further extending our countries’ strong economic and commercial partnership, fostering people-to-people connections and creating new opportunities for airlines, travel companies and customers.
“This agreement will enable airlines to provide more affordable, convenient and efficient air service to travelers and shippers, thereby promoting tourism and commerce.”
The agreement implies that Nigerian airlines have free access to U.S. airspace, can fly to any country in the U.S. and form partnerships with U.S. carriers.
Our correspondent reports that Nigerian airlines, including Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines, have been earmarked to fly to the United States.
Although Nigeria Airways has not yet returned to the route, the US-Nigeria market is still considered a viable route, with passengers flocking to it for business, education and leisure.
However, this situation has recently changed, thanks to President Trump’s recent immigration policy that restricted the entry of Nigerians and other African nationals to the United States as immigrants considering returning home.
It will be recalled that the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), Mr. Yinka Folami, described the recent visa ban as a setback.
“The visa ban will definitely impact traffic, which in turn will impact the use of American airlines and travel to the United States.
According to him, “What America is basically telling us is that we should go where we are wanted. That has been my position as a Nigerian. We should always go where we are welcome.”
As he expected, travel agents who spoke to this correspondent said the ban has already begun to impact flights between the United States and Nigeria.
For many years, Nigerians have been able to secure multi-entry visas to the United States that are valid for several years, giving them the flexibility to travel for purposes such as business, education, tourism, and family visits.
However, before the complete visa ban was implemented, policy changes began shortening visa periods and tightening entry conditions.
Additional requirements have been proposed, including visa deposits of up to $15,000 for some Nigerian travelers, making the process worse for prospective travelers to the United States.
A travel agent who spoke to our correspondent said, “So far, there has been a significant drop in booking demand in the US and US airlines flying directly to the US are recording lower load factors. Nigerians are now looking elsewhere.”
For example, a recent report said that Delta Air Lines, one of the American airlines serving Nigeria, has extremely low load factors on its routes to Nigeria.
A simpleflying.com report states that the New York JFK to Lagos route has a load factor of 56.7%, the second-lowest route in Delta’s entire network.
Our correspondent, Director of Research at Zenith Travels, Olumide Ofunayo, said the current development would not encourage the commencement of operations by Nigerian airlines that are planning to launch US-Nigeria flights on the basis of reciprocity.
Similarly, U.S. airlines will find it difficult to expand due to declining passenger numbers, he said.
He said this would also have a direct impact on Nigeria’s process to achieve Category 1 status, which would allow Nigeria Airways to fly to the United States.
“It’s not the U.S. airlines that will be more affected, it’s the airlines that use the hub to transport passengers between Nigeria and the United States. It’s those airlines that will lose more passengers,” he said.
“We expect that the reduction in passenger numbers will result in lower fares on the route, with passengers preferring direct flights over third-country flights due to lower demand.
“Thus, the bigger impact will be felt by airlines operating connecting flights. In the case of American carriers, they will remain on the route but may not be able to expand or add more flights. They will either continue to manage what they have or convert to smaller aircraft that will lessen the impact.”
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