Business

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has again assured that the brand new International airport terminal still under construction at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos which is funded through counterpart financing from the China Eximbank would be completed and commissioned for use before the end of the year. The Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu made the disclosure when he led the FAAN delegation to pay a courtesy visit to Lagos State…

Etihad among first in the world to trial new device   Aircraft giant, Boeing has begun testing a new prototype ultraviolet (UV) wand which has been developed with its airline customers, to provide disinfection for aircraft flight decks and cabins. A statement sent to Woleshadarenews by Senior Consultant for Boeing, William Smook said Boeing developed the UV wand prototype that demonstrates an ability to successfully disinfect flight decks, lavatories and cabins. The UV light according…

  A cost-cutting decision to outsource Qantas’ ground handling operations could see the airline shed up to 2,500 jobs, Australia’s national carrier has said in a statement. Revenues fell by $4 billion in the second half of Qantas’ latest financial year due to Covid-19 and associated border restrictions and the carrier expects to lose $10 billion in sales this financial year. Qantas has already cut around 6,000 jobs across the business to save on costs…

Kenya Airways   is seeking to lay off half of its pilots as it slashes costs to weather the cash flow crisis deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic. The national carrier intends to cut up to 207 of its 414 pilot jobs, which account for nearly half of its payroll costs, over the next three years. It expects to save nearly Sh3.24 billion if it meets the desired target of having between 207 and 248 pilots on…

Airbus believes that Middle East operators will begin ordering narrow-body planes well before new wide-bodies are purchased as the aviation industry begins to drag itself out of the coronavirus crisis. The pandemic virtually put a stop to aircraft orders and deliveries in Q2 as international travel restrictions caused passenger demand to evaporate and airline revenues and cash reserves to nosedive. Mikail Houari, Airbus’ Middle East and Africa president, has said that the planemaker expects air…

More than half of the Middle East region’s aviation-related jobs are at risk because of the shutdown of air traffic due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That is according to the International Air Transport Association, which estimates that job losses in aviation and related industries could grow to 1.5 million. That is more than half of the region’s 2.4 million aviation-related employment and 300,000 more than the previous estimate. “Middle East economies have been brought to…

**How to save aviation ground handling companies-Stakeholders   Former Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren said  it becomes imperative that foreign airlines pay the dollar equivalent for ground handling services rendered to it in order to ensure the survival of the Aviation Ground Handling companies. Demuren, made the call recently during a webinar organized by the Association of Aviation Ground Handlers (AGHAN). The former DG of NCAA who was one of…

  Some ex-workers of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) have given account of their trauma and untold hardship they have grappled with to receive their severance pay since they were laid off under questionable circumstances more than 15 years after privatisation of the company. For 15 years, many of them could not get their entitlements before they died, with many lamenting the irregularities and alleged under-hand dealings by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE)…

IATA remits $200,000 to agency   BASA fund depletes to $413,658    Following the crisis that has engulfed the aviation sector lately, revenue accruing to the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has dwindled drastically, leading to an intervention by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to secure N3.1 billion as loan for July salaries. The intervention also prevented workers at the agency from embarking on strike, even though there is no assurance as to where August salaries…

    Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Tony Douglas said he “remains optimistic” about the coming months despite operating losses in H1 2020 increasing by nearly 30% to $758 million. The United Arab Emirates’ national airline posted a record performance in Q1 of 2020 before the outbreak of the pandemic but performance dived in Q2 when international travel restrictions zapped passenger demand and grounded fleets. The airline had been on track to double its EBITDA…