Aviation

*Hands over 678 pieces of elephant tusks to NSREA *38kg of Pangolin seized Just one week after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) raised the alarm that illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) from Nigeria and other African nations, including Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Ethiopia and Angola, is worth $19 billion annually, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Command of Nigerian Customs Service ( NCS), Ikeja , Lagos have arrested two Chinese over attempt to smuggle out prohibited items…

  Airline operators under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) have sought the assistance of the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika in tackling the myriad of problems confronting carriers in Nigeria.   The operators, had in a meeting held with Sirika, highlighting their problems to include the constraints to foreign exchange (Forex) access; availability, pricing and distribution of Jet A1; taxes on importation of aircraft and its spare parts as well as other multiple…

A witness in the ongoing trial of Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Abdulsalam Ibrahim today informed the Federal High Court Lagos how the sixth defendant Bola Akinribido and the second defendant Segun Agbolade connived and diverted the sum of N855, 000, 000.95 property of NAMA. At the last adjourned date, the witness Babatunde Adelekan had disclosed that between August 2013 and September 2015 there was an inflow of N837, 221, 137…

*New A350 orders reach  800 mark Aircraft giant, Airbus received 77 orders for the popular single-aisle A320 Family, as well as six A350XWBs  to raise total bookings for this new Xtra Widebody jetliner above the 800 mark. This was contained in new business logged by Airbus during May, 2016. The month’s 57 deliveries included aircraft from across the company’s product lines.   According to the firm, all six A350 XWBs added to the order book are A350-900s…

Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) from Nigeria and other African nations, including Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Ethiopia and Angola, is worth $19 billion annually, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. The clearing house for 260 global airlines disclosed this to our correspondent in Dublin, Ireland, at its 72nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), which ended at the weekend. Consequently, IATA and many of leading aviation organisations are partnering with governments and conservation organisations to raise awareness of…

*UK, Nigeria pocket £3bn, $360m annually The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has discovered nearly 2000 government- imposed aviation taxes and charges in their data base -of which 230 are statutory taxes imposed on tickets, outgoing Secretary-General of the body, Tony Tyler, has said. He disclosed this at  the just concluded IATA’s 72nd Annual General Meeting in Dublin, Ireland. The IATA boss also bemoaned the high taxes imposed on aviation sector, saying the phenomenon militates…

*Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo get strike notice The National Governing Council (NGC) of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) has faulted the wave of privatisation, commercialisation and concessioning of public utilities by both the Federal and state governments, saying it is opposed to the idea. The group was speaking in veiled reference to the planned privatisation of four of the nation’s airports by the Federal Government and those…

Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) said it has concluded plans to release the final report of Dana MD83 crash report to the public ‘very soon’. The Bureau explained that efforts at resolving and harmonising the issues raised by the stakeholders’ comments and suggestions have however delayed the release of the report. Issuing an  interim statement on investigations into the crash of Dana Airlines MD83 aircraft with registration 5N-RAM, which occurred at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State, Nigeria on 3rd June, 2012, spokesman for the AIB, Tunji Oketunbi…

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has called on the Nigerian Government to as a matter of urgency address the failure to make forex available to domestic airlines in the interest of safety and avoidance of collapse to the air transport system.   President, AON, Captain Noggie Meggison in a statement, said aviation is a pivot of the national economy that not only facilitates the movement of people and goods than any other mode of…