FEATURES Archives - Aviation metric

Aviation fuel volatility: Nigerian carriers on life support

Posted on April 28, 2026April 28, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Nigerian aviation industry, often described as the local economy’s barometer, is currently screaming “Mayday,” writes WOLE SHADARE What began as a turbulent climb in operational costs has rapidly devolved into a free fall, leaving domestic carriers gasping for air as the price of Jet A1—aviation fuel—skyrockets to an unprecedented N3,300 per litre. For an industry where fuel typically accounts for 40% of operational costs, this 300% surge from just N900 in February 2024 has turned…

Decoding Nigeria’s 20-Year Civil Aviation Master Plan

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Civil Aviation Master Plan (CAMP) 2025–2045 is more than a policy document; it is a twenty-year survival guide for an industry that has long struggled with inconsistency, writes WOLE SHADARE The Nigerian aviation industry stands at a critical inflexion point. Long hampered by fragmented planning and systemic inefficiencies, the sector is now transitioning toward a period of institutionalised growth. The catalyst for this change is the Civil Aviation Master Plan (CAMP) 2025–2045, a strategic mandate…

Obsolete Radar: Ticking Time Bomb, Govt’s swift intervention

Posted on April 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The clock is ticking. The question is: will we fix the radar before the screen goes blank? asks, WOLE SHADARE For a pilot cruising at 35,000 feet, the silent partnership between the cockpit and the ground is the bedrock of safety. But in Nigeria, that partnership is fraying at the edges. Behind the high-tech jargon and the polished glass of Air Traffic Control (ATC) towers lies a harrowing reality: the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON)…

Push to de-risk Nigerian aviation market for global investors

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Nigeria Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit (NAAIS) 2026, which concluded In Lagos last week, the visit provided a strategic reset for the country’s aviation sector. Moving away from the high-cost model of outright aircraft purchases, it introduced a structured leasing and financing frameworks designed to de-risk the Nigerian market for global investors, writes WOLE SHADARE Orchestrated by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the Nigeria Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit (NAAIS)…

Beyond The Wire: The vulnerability of Nigerian airports’ perimeter fencing

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The age-long commitment to securing Nigeria’s airport perimeters has become a saga of shifting deadlines, budget cycles, and evolving security threats. For decades, the Federal Government has identified perimeter fencing as a top priority. The government has now categorised such projects as a priority, writes WOLE SHADARE The recent security incident at Akure Airport has indeed reignited the long-standing debate over the underbelly of Nigerian aviation: perimeter security. The breach, which occurred around March 15,…

Air Finance: Breaking the African risk premium

Posted on March 17, 2026March 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

With the AfDB and Afreximbank acting as the first loss guarantors, the private sector is finally finding the courage to invest in African skies, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the story of African aviation has been written in red ink, hampered by a risk premium that forced local carriers to pay up to 25% more for aircraft than their global peers. But as of March 2026, the script is being rewritten. A new, continent-wide financial policy…

T1: Dragging 47-year-old facility into digital age

Posted on March 10, 2026March 10, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The completion of the modernisation project at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) won’t be merely an aesthetic upgrade; it will be a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s aviation strategy. By integrating the existing Terminal 2 (T2) with a completely rebuilt Terminal 1 (T1), the government aims to create a unified super-hub capable of handling 17.6 million passengers annually, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) has stood as a symbol of Nigerian…

Iran/Israeli Crossfire: Triggering ricochet effect in airlines’ boardrooms

Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The war’s ricochet effect is being felt in boardrooms from Atlanta to Tokyo, from the Gulf Region to Africa. Jet fuel prices have surged by 8% in 48 hours, and global cargo supply chains, already strained, are bracing for a massive backlog of high-value electronics and perishables usually moved through Gulf hubs, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the midnight rush at Dubai International Airport (DXB) was the heartbeat of global travel—a synchronised ballet of A380S ferrying…

Why Africa’s ‘Open Skies’ Remain Locked in the Hangar

Posted on February 24, 2026February 24, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The message from the industry is clear: Africa no longer needs more signatures; it needs schedules. Without enforcement mechanisms to hold non-compliant signatories accountable, SAATM risks becoming another paper tiger in a continent desperate for connectivity, writes WOLE SHADARE For nearly a decade, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) has been hailed as the holy grail of African aviation—a flagship project of the AU’s Agenda 2063 designed to dismantle the restrictive bilateral walls that…

United Nigeria Airlines: Turning Dream into Reality

Posted on February 17, 2026February 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The story of United Nigeria Airlines is a microcosm of the Nigerian spirit—resilient, ambitious, and unyieldingly optimistic. Its mission is to connect the Nigerian diaspora to their roots and the Nigerian economy to the world, writes WOLE SHADARE In the volatile landscape of African aviation, the five-year mark is often a precarious milestone. Yet for United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), February 12, 2026, marks the moment a domestic dream is turning out to be a global…

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