Airlines Are Experimenting With New Strategies To Survive In The Complex Aviation World, Writes WOLE SHADARE   Bristow’s ‘all-coach-class’ experiment on some routes, a major departure from industry practice for scheduled domestic flights, is the latest in an industry trend toward niche marketing. Bristow Helicopters (Nigeria), arguably the largest helicopter operator in Nigeria, assumes that nearly all its Lagos-Abuja- Port-Harcourt-bound passengers are leisure travellers paying good fares and that filling the plane with them…

The inability of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ensure that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) carries out compliance with approved runway maintenance programme led to the hard decision taken by the Federal Government to close the Abuja airport runway for rehabilitation, stakeholders have said. Consequently, they insisted that the two agencies should be held responsible for the decay of the facilities, wondering what was their input considering that the runway’s lifespan…

* Airlines sold N330.5B tickets in 2016-NCAA           Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced certification of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.   This is coming as 18 firms have indicated interest to begin flight operations, just as the aviation regulatory body is said to be processing their all-important Air Operator Certificate (AOC). The NCAA said it has nine ‘unfirmed’ applications that are just at the level…

 The Capital of Guinea becomes the national flag carrier’ 51st destination in Africa as well. Turkish Airlines  today launched its first flight between Istanbul and Conakry. With this new addition, Turkish Airlines has expanded its network to 51 destinations on the continent where it is has the largest coverage number of destinations among all carriers. It is thereby cementing its position as the carrier that flies to more countries than any other airline, with 296 destinations in 120…

Med-View Airline stole the show last at the weekend at the 2016 Nigeria Aviation (NIGAV) Awards night emerging the airline of the year and clinching two other awards. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole won the coveted award of airline CEO of the year while a pilot of the airline, Capt. Usman Saleh Yahaya emerged as the Pilot of the Year. NIGAV is an annual award used to recognize excellence…

Having given approval to Nigeria’s fastest growing airline, Medview Airlines Plc, the council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would on January 31, 2017 list its entire issued share capital on the Exchange, in a move that will see the return of the airlines industry to the stock market after the delisting of the previous carriers. The Quotation Committee, which oversees listing at the Exchange, had last year approved the listing of Med-View Airline. Med-View…

  *Lauds NIGAV Promoters *Wants Best For Aviation Sector   Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika has said that at a crucial time in Nigeria’s national history especially with the economic challenges faced by all sectors of the economic spectrum, including aviation, only the best is good enough to produce the desired improvements in the aviation industry.   This he stated, would in turn, positively impact the experience of all consumers of r services…

  Dana Air has launched a valentine campaign which will afford passengers of the airline the opportunity to fly for less when they book a return ticket on any of the airlines’ route network.   According to Dana Air’s Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, “From now till Valentine’s Day, our guests will get the best fares as low as 15,300 (one way) across all our sales channels when they book return tickets.’’   ‘’Over 30,600 seats…

Delta has been named Business Airline of the Year 2017 at the U.K.’s Business Travel Awards, beating competition from airlines including EasyJet, Etihad Airways, Norwegian and Qatar Airways.    The award is a first for Delta at the annual event, and the first time in over a decade that a U.S. airline has scooped the title.   The 22nd Business Travel Awards were judged by a panel of corporate travel managers and industry specialists, who credited…