Aviation

  The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji has charged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) to be firm and fair in regulating the industry. Nnaji who spoke during an oversight visit in Lagos urged the authority to ensure it carries out its over sighting of the industry with humane approach . He was of the opinion that hostility may not be the best way to regulate the aviation industry as experience…

Agree payment plan   The Nigerian Civil Authority (NCAA) has reached a truce with airline in the liquidation of over N22 billion they owe various agencies in the aviation industry with a plan for them to reconcile their debts and the agreed payment plan. It is uncertain how much the carriers including those in extinction owe the aviation regulatory but it reported to be over N5 billion while collectively, the carriers’ debts are said to…

Laments Growing Losses To Foreign Carriers, Skewed BASA Former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Richard Aisubeogun disclosed that the demise of some Nigerian airlines and the cessation of international routes by Arik, Bellview, Medview, Virgin Nigeria and others have robbed the nation of billions of dollars and foreign exchange as a result of skewed Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) against the country. Aisuebeogun, in a paper he presented at the…

Load factor shrinks by 50%, triggers fare hike Carriers attribute fares’ surge to forex The sack of 300 workers by the management of Arik Air last week has sent a shock wave around the country’s aviation sector with fear that over a thousand more jobs from the airlines and other aviation support system could be on the line. The airlines have discovered that furloughing workers alone is not the solution at the moment to solve the…

  Seeks tourism, air transport synergy The Nigerian aviation industry contributed at least $1.7 billion and created 341,000 direct jobs to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the advent of Covid-19 pandemic, which crippled the world’s economy, Akin Olateru, Commissioner, Accident Investigation Buerau (AIB) has said. The AIB helmsman also called for effective collaboration between air transport and tourism industry, saying the two sectors needed each other to thrive and developed the nation’s economy….

Agency operates at 30% capacity, rakes N30b as at Sept Recovers N5b debts Reps:Put 70% of revenue into infrastructure The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it remitted N2b to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) accounts between January and September 2020. This is coming as the Managing Director of the agency, Capt. Hamisu Yadudu pleaded for urgent intervention fund from the Federal Government to address infrastructural gaps. He stated that the addressing the infrastructural…

Slow Recovery Still In Global Air Freight Market The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released October data for global air freight markets showing that  Africa is staging the strongest increase in demand for air cargo amid slow recovery in the global air freight market. According to IATA, African airlines saw demand increase by 2.8% year-on-year in October, stressing that this was lower than the 12.1% growth in September. Despite this, the region still posted the…

A huge number of African airlines are improving air links within the continent and West African region following a shift from regional aircraft to smaller aircraft, especially turboprops. This has brought some of the most exciting developments in the realm of intra-African air services. Flying within West Africa and flights within East Africa had long been costly for airline operators but that is slowly beginning to change as air service regulations loosen and airlines discover…

Arising from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the constrained ability of the airline to complete heavy maintenance activities and return its planes to operations, stunted revenues against increasing operational costs, the management of Arik Air (In Receivership) has declared 300 staff members redundant to its current level of operations.   The airline in a statement said the leadership of the impacted unions have been contacted to negotiate a redundancy package for…