Aviation

Advices airlines to merge to form strong flag carriers       President of Aviation Safety Round Table (ASRT) Dr. Gabriel Olowo has called for a private sector-driven airline urging that government should not try in any way to involve itself completely in a new national carrier just as the expert threw his weight behind a national airline for Nigeria. In his advice to the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu tagged, “National Carrier…

Welcomes probe, flays airlines, Nnaji, others for conspiracy to truncate carrier   Former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has opened up on the controversies that trailed the Nigeria Air project, saying that only N5billion was made available for the project contrary to insinuation in some quarters that N85 billion was ‘squandered’ on the proposed carrier. The Minister had come under fire and scrutiny for the way and manner the national carrier project was pursued with…

President of the Aviation Round Table (ART), a body of different professionals in Nigeria’s aviation sector, Dr. Gabriel Olowo has called on the Federal government to consider the barter arrangement option for settling the $812.2 million of the foreign airlines trapped in Nigeria. Olowo’s position is coming days after the Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh declared Nigeria as the highest indebted country to foreign airlines.       The…

Ex-Minister’s shoddy arrangement, NCAA hammer may end future national carrier plan   The recurring failure by the Nigerian government to float a national airline for more than 15 years and particularly in the last eight may have put a permanent end to the idea. Never have Nigerians followed the process to birth a national than in the past eight years. The project first suffered a hiccup when former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo four years ago…

CBN settles others on new Forex window     The crisis caused by the inability of foreign airlines to repatriate their funds which ran into over $700 million is yet to end. While some airlines have collected their funds that were trapped, others are yet to do so because of their insistence on accessing their fund at a lower Forex rate of between N450 and N470 to a dollar. A European airline official and his…

January to April 2023 still outstanding CBN’s Forex window to airlines stems fund accumulation   Some top officials of foreign airlines operating to Nigeria have disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has defrayed much of the $700 million in airlines’ funds trapped in the country. The duo officials who spoke to Aviation Metric under the condition of anonymity said the CBN had paid from January 2022 to December last year, stressing that only…

The Aviacargo roadmap committee at its first meeting with the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Kabir Mohammed presented its 4th monthly report of the committee. The last three monthly reports were received by the former CEO Capt Rabiu Yadudu. Mr. Ikechi Uko presented the report and briefed the MD/CE and the new Director of Commercial and Business Development Muyiwa Femi-Pearse on the activities of the committee and the tasks remaining…

….FG unveils aircraft The Federal Government has unveiled the aircraft Nigeria Air plans to operate with when and if the proposed airline comes to fruition. The plan to set up the airline by the Federal Government had pitted antagonists and protagonists of the carrier, especially from Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) that had gone to institute legal action against the airline. The national carrier aircraft was unveiled by the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, at the Nnamdi…

The plane for the proposed Nigeria   Air will arrive on Friday ahead of the commencement of operations, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has confirmed. The Minister told a television station that a Nigeria Air aircraft will land in the country in two days as part of processes to commence operations and unveiling of the delivery process. He promised that the aircraft will be unveiled in Nigeria’s colours in fulfillment of all the promises…

Commissions phase one protocol lounge Justifies N1.2 billion fire trucks cost     The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika Monday said the ongoing re-organisation in many of the aviation agencies would continue. He denied that the exercise was shrouded in secrecy, maintaining that President Muhammadu Buhari gave his approval to the shake-up. He stated this yesterday while commissioning phase one of the expansion project at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), against the backdrop of recent…