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Raphael Kuuchi is the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Vice-President for Africa. He joined IATA from the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) where he was the Director of Commercial. The consummate administrator discusses a myriad of issues bedeviling the continent’s aviation industry, among others, with WOLE SHADARE, at the IATA AGM in Dublin. Excerpts   Accident rate in Africa is said to be the highest. Does this not sound alarming and what is the role of…

Nigeria’s financial crisis, which affected all the three tiers of government –federal, states and local governments has led to the suspension and in some cases abandonment of airport projects embarked upon by states, woleshadare.net has learnt. The nation’s financial woes were triggered by the slump in the price of oil at the international markets, where Nigeria earns about 70 per cent of her revenues and 80 per cent of her foreign exchange earnings. Oil that earlier…

  *Blackbox, crucial to investigation-Plane maker *The European Space Agency satellite detected equipment Wole Shadare The cockpit voice recorder from the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month has been found in the Mediterranean, Egyptian investigators say. The “black box” was damaged and had to be pulled out in several stages but its memory unit was intact, they said. A search vessel with an underwater robot has been scouring the crash site and has sent back…

 *Policy may solve high fare regime  Some international airlines operating to Nigeria said they welcomed announcement of a full float of the Naira, which will make the foreign exchange rate to be now determined by market forces. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele averred that the 41 items banned last year from access to forex remained banned. Although the apex bank said it will intervene “as the need arises”. According to him, “We’re talking…

Culled from Associated Press India’s government on Wednesday approved a new civil aviation policy aimed at increasing regional connectivity, boosting cargo operations and making it easier  and possibly cheaper  for passengers to fly. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the policy will help India become the world’s third-largest civil aviation market by 2022, behind the U.S. and China. Raju tweeted after the Cabinet’s approval that it would be “a game-changer for the (aviation) sector.”…

*Country owes $600M in fares   Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it is closely monitoring its flights to Nigeria as the aviation industry awaits payment of about $600 million in outstanding air fares in the country, which is struggling to cope with depleted U.S. currency reserves. The managing director for sub-Saharan Africa of the German carrier, Claus Becker, said it has made “minor adjustments” to winter flights to Africa’s biggest economy, ,  said in an…