Author: Wole Shadare

  The Federal Government has evacuated 292 Nigerians who were stranded in Saudi Arabia due to the lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The flight conveying the evacuees arrived late on Tuesday night at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja. Their arrival was announced on Wednesday morning by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama via his official Twitter handle. He said a large number of the evacuees are nursing mothers and children. “We received…

Hit by the dwindling revenue generation amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it may not be able to pay full salary of staff as from May 2020 until the situation. The agency stated as soon as revenue situation improves, the balance will be paid. In an internal memo sighted by Woleshadarenew with reference number FAAN/HQ/ADMIN/2020O5 dated May 19, 2020 and signed by General Manager, Administration, FAAN, M.D. Musa. Titled, “Notice on payment…

  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed details of its proposed temporary layered approach to bio-security for re-starting passenger flights amid the COVID-19 crisis. The clearing house for global airlines IATA has published Biosecurity for Air Transport: A Roadmap for Restarting Aviation”, which outlines IATA’s proposal for a layering of temporary bio-security measures. The Roadmap aims to provide the confidence that governments will need to enable the re-opening of borders to passenger travel; and…

  Aviation industry experts outlined that COVID-19 could provide a unique opportunity for the industry to reset to a more sustainable model that meets the demands of the climate emergency,  WOLE Shadare writes Rescue option The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has predicted that airlines will lose over $400 billion in revenue this year. COVID-19 impact on aviation sector has been huge and recovery time is likely to be lengthy. Without financial aid from their governments, half of…

  Holds talks with unions European plane maker, Airbus enters has entered into talks with unions as it begins the process of reducing its workforce. The company could reduce its workforce by 10 per cent as it slashes production and grapples with the fallout from Covid-19’s impact on the aviation industry, according to media reports. Sources have told Bloomberg that Airbus is in talks with unions about job cuts although the number of employees to be laid…

    As part of its measures towards cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 hardship on Nigerians, Arik Air on Tuesday donated bags of rice and beans to communities in Mafoluku and Agege , Orile axis of Lagos metropolis. According to Arik Air , Business Head, West and Central Africa, Mr Sylvester Egogo was driven by its reach out with palliatives packages to impacted communities. Egogo said the carrier, it would be out of place…

  The relocation of all the agencies in the aviation industry has continued to generate furore with the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), describing the move as not well thought out by the Ministry of Aviation. While a few people said the relocation of the agencies would save the government costs of having the Chief Executive Officers of the agencies and critical officers frequent Abuja for administrative matters, others believe that the frequent…

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday agreed to fund the feeding and accommodation of evacuees in Lagos and Abuja. The minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 daily news conference in Abuja. Onyeama said the fund to cover the cost of evacuees’ feeding and accommodation was over N1 billion and since funding was not…