Business

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for July 2023 global air cargo markets, showing a continuing trend of recovering growth rates since February. During the month under review, African airlines had the strongest performance in July 2023, with a 2.9% increase in cargo volumes compared to July 2022. Notably, Africa–Asia routes experienced significant cargo demand growth (10.3%), capacity was 11.0% above July 2022 levels, while the continent accounted for 2.0% of the total global air…

Air France-KLM and Airbus on Monday entered into exclusive negotiations to establish a joint venture for the provision on a worldwide basis of Airbus A350 component maintenance services (supply chain management, repairs, creation of a worldwide pool of aircraft components). This partnership between Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Airbus would entail an optimized commercial offering for customers, as well as the creation of a worldwide pool of aircraft components The envisaged cooperation…

It is still early in the day to begin to assess the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo. A peep into the visit of the Minister to Lagos airport to inspect facilities at the aerodrome gave an indication of where Keyamo is headed. His brief discussion with the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr. Kabir Mohammed on revenue generation equally indicates that the agency would have to…

The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo has promised that he won’t interfere in the operations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), stressing that aviation safety is completely in the hands of the aviation regulatory body. The Minister who spoke at the inspection of facilities at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos said, “There should be very little political interference in safety matters. Don’t expect me to interfere in safety matters. “That is completely in the…

The consensus is that aircraft lessors and financiers are still reluctant to lease or finance aircraft to African operators, which are considered high risk relative to other placement opportunities. The reason for that is that prospecting in the African continent and ostensibly operating with barely enough working capital. Due to the higher perceived risk of investing in Africa, aircraft lessors and financiers are less receptive to financing African carriers via aircraft lessors rather than as direct lending deals. The biggest…

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the standoff between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria over the issuance of visas and outstanding face-off with Emirates Airlines be resolved. The President offered to personally intervene on the two issues so that people-to-person socio-economic relations between the two countries could resume.   Tinubu spoke on Thursday during the presentation pf Letter of Credence by the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Salam Saeed Al-Shamsi at the State…

A don, Prof. Kayode Soremekun has penned a memo to the newly appointed Minister of Aviation, Mr. Keyamo expressing disgust at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos terminal, stressing that as a fairly frequent traveler, he feels diminished anytime he gets to the terminal. He also noted that as one of his priorities, Nigeria ‘must’ have its own national airline, adding that one of the best ways to do this is for the Minister to…

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has conducted validation flights of Instrument Flight Procedures at all the international airports in the country to ensure compliance with ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). This is in preparation for the expected International Civil Aviation (ICAO) Universal Safety Audit Programme (USOAP) scheduled to hold at the end of August 2023.   To this end, the agency rounded off the calibration of navigational aids at major airports in the…

Former President of Aviation Round Table and President Sabre West Africa, Dr. Gabriel Olowo said the country did more harm to the aviation industry in all my years in the sector by giving the sector a Ministry. He said he was of the view that aviation should be a department under the Ministry of Transportation just as it is in the United States. Nigeria under the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua experimented with…

  The Plateau State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU ) with Nigeria’s rising airline, ValueJet that would make the carrier to gain a strong foothold on the Jos-Abuja route. ValueJet had on October 10, 2022, launched its inaugural flight and in February 2023 began flight services to Jos, Plateau State. Ever since it launched flight operations to Jos, the carrier has continued to not only expand but consolidate its Jos route, making…