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Airline Operators Decry Poor State of NavAids, Flight Cancellations PHOTO CREDIT:  http://thenationonlineng.net Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) yesterday expressed disappointment and displeasure at the deplorable state of Navigational Aids at airports around the country which makes flying in the Nigerian airspace virtually impossible during the harmattan season. AON lamented the increasing sufferings of passengers and distruption of operators’ schedules and plans for the yuletide season due to flight cancellations. Chairman of the union, Capt. Nogie Meggison who made its position known yesterday at his Lagos office noted that exactly 48 years on December 28, 1968, the first aircraft operated at CAT lll and landed in zero visibility at Heathrow Airport,  while it is still impossible  to land aircraft with visibility of about 800m in Nigeria. http://leadership.ng/business/565469/airline-operators-decry-poor-state-of-navaids-flight-cancellations http:...

The year 2016 is gradually vanishing into history! It has been an eventful year for the aviation industry in Nigeria and the world at large.  We can only pray for good health to the airlines and safer skies for the industry. Please read the headlines as reported in some Nigerian dailies and follow the links for the details. NCAA Cautions Airlines Over Poor Weather The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) yesterday cautioned airlines not to embark on any trip, if the prevailing weather is below the approved minimal for any airport. The warning came amid concerns over cancellation and delay of flights by many airlines as the harmattan haze intensifies. The NCAA spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said airlines know what to do when visibility is poor, adding that it would be against the interest of safety for any pilot to initiate any flight when it is below the approved weather minima for the airport. He confirmed that poor visibility had huge toll on flights, but not en...

Hazy Weather: Passengers Stranded as Airlines Cancel Flights Hundreds of passengers were stranded yesterday at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos following flight delays and cancellations occasioned by the harmattan dust haze across many parts of the country. There were fears that most of the flights might be cancelled as the weather conditions did not improve as at 4 p.m. yesterday. Many passengers expressed frustration over the development, saying they were unable to celebrate the holidays with their families. At the domestic Terminal 2 of the airport, Mr. Martins Onome who was travelling to Port Harcourt said his flight scheduled for 8 a.m. had been cancelled.  http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/hazy-weather-passengers-stranded-as-airlines-cancel-flights/177845.html Medview Airline Rewards Partners, Staff Medview Airlines has honoured some of its partners including aviation agencies, service providers as well as staff for ...

Med-View: Why We Left Passengers' Luggage in London Med-View Airline has attributed its inability to return luggage of its London passengers to the failure of Gatwick Airport Authorities to screen the baggage after the airline had deployed another flight to return them. The airline had dispatched special flight to Gatwick London to bring the luggage but the aircraft arrived on Saturday without the luggage. It was learnt that due to excess baggage by some passengers, the airline could not return the extra luggage and the Gatwick Authorities had to screen the baggage again before the airline could airlift them. But the screening could not be carried out due to the Christmas holiday, it was gathered. In a statement on Sunday, the airline said this explained why the special flight returned without the luggage since a fresh screening would have to be done on the baggage. Med-View expressed regret over the development, saying the Gatwick Airport on arrival of the aircr...

PHOTO CREDIT:  http://cdn.mg.co.za Come June 2017, Ethiopian Airlines will  direct flight services to Singapore from  AddisAbaba using the ultra-modern Boeing 787.  Singapore is a commercial hub and a major gate way to Asia and Australia. Knowing that Nigerians love to travel and with a good number of Nigerians resident in Singapore ,it will not be an exaggeration to say that most of the passengers who will travel to Singapore from Africa via Ethiopian airlines will come from Nigeria! The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Tewode GebreMariam was quoted by  traveldaily  as saying that the non-stop flight to Singapore"  will serve the growing traffic between Africa and Singapore, giving the best possible connectivity options to passengers travelling between most points in Asia and Africa, in partnership with fellow Star member, Singapore " Ethiopian Airlines is one of Africa's best airlines operating 240 daily flights...

PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS Delta Air is set to terminate code-share agreement with Alaska Air having deepened its own operations in the Pacific Northwest  reducing the need for code-sharing. Reuters   reports that in 2016, Delta put its code on about 78,000 scheduled flights on  Alaska Airlines . With the recent acquisition of Virgin America by Alaska Air, Delta and Alaska are more of competitors than partners so ending the code share agreement did not  come a surprise to observers in the aviation industry.

photo credit : www.arikair.com Arik Air today resumed full flight operations after yesterday's disruption by members of Aviation Union in Nigeria.The resumption follows  intervention by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority . Arik Air released a statement on Tuesday evening saying that flight services from both Lagos and Abuja had commenced while full scheduled operations will resume from the morning of Wednesday, 21 December, 2016. Arik Air says additional flights  and bigger aircraft have been introduced to clear the "backlog of passengers whose flights were affected by the unions’ disruptive action on Tuesday, 20 December, 2016". The airline also advised passengers whose flights were affected to call 01 2799999 or email  callcenter@arikair.com  for re-booking options. Flight disruption by aviation unions seem to be on the increase in recent times. From Kenya Airways to Lufthansa and with the British Airways cabin crew and Britain's airport ...

photo credit: Reuters United Arab Emirates National Carrier; Etihad has announced plans to lay off workers in different parts of its business to minimize cost , improve productivity and revenue as it tries to cope with weak global economy. An Etihad Airways spokesman told Reuters  that a majority of staff affected  were through "natural attrition" and the vacancies will not be filled. One just hopes that the current economic recession in Nigeria is not one of the reasons for this job cut by Etihad as the airline said it was operating in an "increasingly competitive landscape," against a backdrop of "weakened global economic conditions." Just recently ,Etihad signed a code-share agreement with German Carrier; Lufthansa in order to strengthen its European Union Operations. The agreement allows Lufthansa  to jointly sell tickets with Etihad on some routes.

PHOTO CREDIT: Google.com Anyone travelling to Britain this weekend should be on alert as Airport workers in the United Kingdom are threatening to go on 48 hours strike this weekend over wages and condition of service. Though talks aimed at settling the dispute has been scheduled for Tuesday December 20, 2016, United Arab Airlines Emirates and Etihad said they are monitoring the situation and have also made contingency plans for their flight operations to the UK on Friday should the British airport workers go ahead with the strike. According to a report in http://www.thenational.ae/uae about 1,500 airport staff comprising check-in, baggage handlers and cargo staff working under Swissport Company are championing the strike. Reports say it is still unclear how many UK airports will be affected but there are fears that airports in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Heathrow, Stansted, Leeds and Bradford might be affected since they employ staff...

It is a few days to Christmas and airports across the world are bound to witness huge passenger traffic as people travel to various destinations to celebrate with loved ones.  However, Nigerian airlines and their passengers are not finding things easy. Airlines are willing to fly and some of them have even introduced additional flights to key domestic destinations for the convenience of air travelers but their major headache now is the scarcity of aviation fuel. Please find the headlines below and follow the links to read the stories in full.  Passengers Groan as Airlines Cancel Flights over Fuel Scarcity Air passengers were yesterday stranded at airports across the country as domestic airlines ran short of aviation fuel to carry out scheduled flight operations. While most of the passengers were delayed for several hours before takeoff in Lagos, others in Port Harcourt, Abuja were not so lucky as their flights were cancelled after delays. The developm...

Nigeria’s largest airline; Arik Air has continued to give Nigeria, West and Central Africa’s Aviation sector global recognition as the airline has just received approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency’s(EASA) Third Country Operators(TCO) to fly into any country under the European Union. Arik Air revealed in a statement signed by the airline’s spokesperson; Mr. Adebanji Ola that out of 700 non-European Carriers that applied for EASA approval, only 590 completed the certification procedure before the deadline of November 26 set by EASA. “ Arik Air is also the only operator in Nigeria to get this Authorisation which is a requirement for all non-European airline operators to fly into European Union (EU) countries” Arik Air sure has a lot of credentials to show for her safe flight operations in ten years of operations as the airline is the only Nigerian carrier that is four-times certified by the International Air Transport Association’s(IATA) Operational Audit(IO...

Nigeria's promising domestic airline; Air Peace is steadily establishing her wings across the country as the airline plans to launch flight operations to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State today Sunday December 18, 2016. The airline advertised on their website that the maiden flight will depart Lagos at 6:50 pm on Sunday and leave Uyo at 7:30 am on Monday. Dana and Arik Air are already on the not-so-busy Uyo route ,so the coming of Air Peace to that route means more choices for the passengers but fewer load for the airlines. Congrats to Air Peace !

Christmas is almost here and Nigerians must travel recession or no recession! However, travelling by air has great benefits and peculiar challenges but with good preparation one can avoid unnecessary pressure at the airports this season. One thing air- travelers especially leisure travelers must imbibe is the habit of booking their tickets ahead of time. Why wait for last minute rush when you already knew you would travel for Christmas festivities?  It is very easy to purchase flight tickets with advancement in technology. Tickets can be purchased directly from the airlines via their websites or sales offices. Tickets can be purchased from airlines’ partner banks. Flight tickets are also available on online travel shops like  Jumia Travel and with just a click, intending passengers can login to the portal and choose from an array of available flights by various airlines. If you don’t buy ticket ahead of time, it means you are prepared to spend more and you will de...

Christmas is almost here but intending air-travelers across Nigeria should gear-up for flight delays, cancellations and increase in airfares except something urgent is done to ensure uninterrupted availability of aviation fuel as well as price stability. All domestic airlines in Nigeria are affected by the current scarcity but the worst hit is Arik Air; West and Central Africa’s largest airline. The airline says its daily fuel requirement for smooth flight operations is about 500,000 liters but it is only able to get between 180,000 to 200,000 liters at the moment because of the worsening scarcity especially in the past ten days. Arik Air does about 100 flights daily and flies to most destinations across Nigeria in addition to regional and international destinations. The spokesman of Arik Air; Mr. Adebanji Ola in a statement said “despite the abrupt and random fuel price increase by some marketers, which the airline may be forced to pass on to its customers, the pr...

This issue of aviation fuel scarcity has lingered for too long! No matter how prepared airlines are to meet the travel demands of this season, without adequate supply of aviation fuel more passengers will be left stranded.  Find the headlines before and follow the links to read the full stories. Air Passengers Stranded as Aviation Fuel Scarcity Bites Harder Nationwide Air passengers in Nigeria are stranded at airports nationwide, as airline operators jostle for aviation fuel, amidst scarcity that is getting worse. On Tuesday, the passengers, some of whom were on transit, waited endlessly for the departure hall. While few were lucky to later travel, others were later informed that their scheduled flights had been cancelled. Aviation fuel, otherwise called Jet-A1, is a specialised type of petroleum-based fuel used to power aircraft and normally accounts for over 30 per cent of operation cost of an airline. http://guardian.ng/business-services/air-passengers-strande...