Author: Wole Shadare

Advocate Mergers To Stay Afloat As the operating environment gets tougher for airlines and businesses, experts have suggested that airlines should pool resources together to form strong airlines group to save them from bankruptcy. President, Aviation Round Table (ART), Mr. Gbenga Olowo, who shared this view, said that the systematic operational merger would be the only way for the airlines to remain in business in a short while from now. “This is the only way…

*Airlines decry recurring problem *FAAN apologises   Nigeria’s busiest airport, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos again witnessed power outage at the aerodrome. The problem caused major disruption of flight services to airlines.   Arik, Air Maroc, Lufthansa, Delta, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Air France, Delta, British Airways, South African Airways among others expressed disappointment over the problem that has lingered for more than four years.   Power outage at the Lagos airport is a recurring…

Airlines have faced worse situations but this time around, they are finding it extremely hard to cope. Consequently, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been asked to economically regulate to prevent corner cutting. WOLE SHADARE reports   Deregulation policy Many years ago, precisely in the 1980s and 1990, the aviation industry in Nigeria was deregulated. This led to the birth of Okada Air and ADC, among others. The two were very prominent because of…

*Under-aged among returnees *IOM offers $50 to each deportee Two hundred and fourty one Nigerians were voluntarily returned to Nigeria. The Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVRs) came aboard a Libyan Airlines’ Airbus A330-200 chartered flight. They had in the last few weeks pleaded to return to their home country to escape alleged hostility faced in the host country. It was learnt that most of them were stranded in Libya after they failed to cross high sea to…

Anytime airlines are asked to reconcile their debts with all the aviation agencies, that is when you begin to hear excuses, intimidation and blackmail from the operators, accompanied by threats of shutting their operations. Airlines in Nigeria are known to behave irresponsibly each time they are asked to pay up. This article does not in any way, support the actions of the agencies in their revenue recovery drive. Most times they apply tactics that are…

Air transport workers under the aegis of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and  the National Union of Pensioners (NUP) today took to the street to protest the concessioning of the four major airport terminals. Their protest caused traffic gridlock along the roads leading to Ikeja and Oshodi. The protest was peaceful.   Many of the protesters were seen singing and trekking from the Federal Airports…