It is familiar terrain. It remains to be seen how the domestic carriers survive the onslaught of multiple destinations/designation to foreign airlines and what remains for them with the policy, writes, WOLE SHADARE Backward steps  “It is a case of step forward and many steps backward. We make gains in one area but fail to consolidate on the gains we have made. We would rather throw away those gains willingly without consideration of how those decisions…

The number is rising. Africa is becoming home to A220 operators as more carriers on the continent are acquiring the aircraft type, writes WOLE SHADARE Growing presence The number of airlines that have embraced Airbus A220 in Africa is growing. On December 28, Air Senegal became the fourth operator of the type in the continent after taking delivery of its first of eight A220-300s it has on order. The aircraft got a special welcome with…

The year 2021 was not particularly bad for the aviation sector in Nigeria despite the ravaging COVID-19. If anything, it was a year the country’s aviation showed promise. Despite that, there were bad and ugly scenes that dotted the sector, reports WOLE SHADARE Undermining factors The aviation industry crises in Nigeria and around the world have become a study of the forces that are undermining it. No thanks to an almost complete shutdown of both…

  For two weeks, many parts of the continent reeled under the Omicron virus ban. The continent’s air travel is counting its losses, one that further slows down travel recovery, writes WOLE SHADARE The removal of 11 African countries from the United Kingdom’s Red List is resulting in a return of air travel by many Africans, particularly from Nigeria and Southern Africa. UK carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have reestablished services and are seeing…

United’s resumption of flights to Washington from Lagos has again shifted focus to the US-Nigeria Open Skies deal and how Nigerian carriers have failed to take advantage of the deal 21 years after it was signed, writes WOLE SHADARE The pact When Nigeria and the United States signed the ‘Open Skies’ agreement in the year 2000, little did the country know that it was going into a lopsided agreement. Yes, over the years, the world…

The Nigerian aviation market is seeing a remarkable shift to other aircraft types. Airbus’ aggressive marketing strategy in Nigeria and Africa seems to be tilting the balance as innovation by Boeing and Airbus amid stiff rivalry is helping to reshape the travel industry. WOLE SHADARE writes A look in Aircraft maker, Airbus is making a significant inroad into Nigeria’s aviation market with some Nigerian operators looking at the direction of the European airplane maker for…

Nigerian airlines are changing strategy with a shift from the operation of ‘old’ aircraft to more efficient, fuel-saving airplanes. WOLE SHADARE writes that this could be a game-changer Proving naysayers wrong The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects on air travel and aviation were massive. All over the world, the future of airlines was bleak, fueling suspicion that it could take the sector more than four years to return to full recovery. For the…

As there seems to be no solution to the skyrocketing price of aviation fuel otherwise known as Jet A1, WOLE SHADARE x-rays some of the challenges that have contributed to the unabated rising costs of the commodity in Nigeria Steady increase Since January 2021, the price of Jet A1 has been skyrocketing to the chagrin of airline operators. At the beginning of the year, the commodity sold for between N190 and N200 per litre. A…

  ACFTA and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) still have a long way to go for effective implementation. WOLE SHADARE writes that the AU needs some institutional reforms to ensure that this plausible paper initiative becomes a reality Colonial demarcation Africa is home to half of the 32 landlocked developing countries that face special challenges associated with their lack of direct territorial access to the sea resulting in high transport and transit costs. The African…

Africa is a region on the cusp of rapid economic expansion. Before Africa’s aviation market can grow to its full potential, however, airlines must address the weak points in their intra-regional operating models, writes WOLE SHADARE Dust settles The dust is still settling across the aviation landscape 19 months after the disappearance of passenger traffic and the retrenchment of airlines. Ultra-large capacity jets are in storage, some likely never to fly again. Networks and frequencies…