Nigeria's Aviation News Headlines for Tuesday August 2, 2016
Medview Deploys
Boeing 747-400 on Lagos- London route(Nation)
Med-view
Airline yesterday took delivery of a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, which
operated for the first time on its schedule flight from London-
Gatwick into Lagos Airport with 400 passengers on board.
According to a
statement by the airline, the operation was made possible with the
approval of the British Civil Aviation Authorities with the switch from
B767-300ER to B747-400
The 463 passenger
capacity aircraft with Medview Airline livery touched down the Murtala Muhammed
International airport on Monday.
An elated Med-View
Airline Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Muneer Bankole said
the aircraft will be used to consolidate Lagos-London route operations as
well as the Hajj operations, pointing out that opening up the
transatlantic route is on
the burner.
He said a B777-200
will join the fleet this week to coincide with the airline 10th Anniversary of
its foray into Hajj operations.
Alhaji Bankole said
three jumbo jets – B777-200, B747-400 and B767-300ER will be devoted to the
2016 Hajj operations, which begin next week – August 8, 2016.
FG Sets Up
Inter-Ministerial Committee On Aviation Security(NTA News)
The Federal
Government is setting up an inter-ministerial committee on aviation security,
aimed at providing modalities for training of aviation security officers, for
improved security at airports across the country.
Minister of Interior,
Lt. Gen. (rtd) Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau made the disclosure when the Minister
of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika visited him in his office.
Dambazau emphasized
the need to secure the nation’s airport and its environs, adding that this is
part of border security management, which is part of the mandate of his
ministry.
RwandAir Begins Daily
Flights To Lagos(NewTelegraph)
East African carrier,
RwandAir has concluded plans to begin daily flight services between Kigali and
Lagos beginning from October 1, 2016.
This is coming as the
carrier plans to connect flight services between Lagos and its hub in Kigali
into Far Eastern routes including Mumbai in India and Guangzhou in China,
according to its Country Manager, Ms. Ibiyemi Odusi.
Part of reasons why
the airline decided to operate into these routes, she said is to bridge in
services by the airlines operating on the route.
Odusi said the
airline would deploy a bigger aircraft on the route to give passengers value
for their money. She also spoke of plans by Rwand Air to extend flight services
between Kigali and China as well as Mumbai in India.
SAHCOL Boss Seeks
Good Mgt Of Nigeria’s Airport(NewTelegraph)
For passenger to have
a seamless travel experience, the entire airport operation process should be
managed as an integrated system. This view was shared by Vice- Chairman of
Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), Mr. Chike Ogeah.
Ogeah, in a
presentation he made at the just concluded at Accra Weizo 2016, held in Accra,
Ghana, said for airport operations process to be managed as an integrated
system, stakeholders, airlines, airport operators, ground handling service
providers and
government agencies
have to play their roles.
The expert disclosed
that the airport operator has a major role in identifying service gaps by
knowing if they are delivering on their promises to all stakeholders; get
feedback from airport users, create a performance score card for the entire
airport community
and measure
performance periodically.
Nigeria Not Reaping
From Budding Aviation Market(NewTelegraph)
Nigeria is firmly
positioned to reap abundantly from aviation, occasioned by huge potential in
the sector. But dominance of the market by foreign airlines, small aircraft
capacity and faulty policies have eroded the gains that should have accrued to
the sector.
Frittered Air Pacts
Nigeria has become
the butt of jokes for her inability to position the aviation industry and for
failing to capitalise on the different Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA)
it has with many countries.
Many are of the
opinion that what is the use of signing so many BASA’s without plans to
activate the pact? Perhaps, the government did it with the hope that sooner
than later, airlines from the country would decide to fly to the destinations,
which agreements
had been signed. This
underscores the fact that the air transport system is still in the woods. From
a few foreign carriers that were flying into Nigeria a few years ago, the
number continues to increase by the day.
Wither Aviation Sector Without Road Map?(Sun)
there is no doubt that the political developments in the polity have preoccupied the minds of commentators and pundits. Sensational stories like the 2016 Budget scandal rocking the House of Representatives, unending PDP crises—being fuelled bycontradictory rulings of learned Justices of Federal High Courts, Niger Delta imbroglio, and other pressing national issues, have succeeded in shifting the focus of the populace. I decided to take a brief break from discussing burning political issues, to take an
inventory
of key sectors of the Nigerian economy, especially now that the economy is in
dire need of resuscitation and revival.
One of the
sectors that caught my attention is the aviation industry. The deteriorating
state of infrastructural facilities at the nation’s airports, gradual erosion
of landmark legacies of previous administration in revamping this all-important
sector and the inability of
current
managers of aviation industry to come out with well-articulated Aviation Master
Plan, that would be in line with the change mantra of the President Buhari-led
government, prompted me to write this introspective piece.
Not too long
ago, there was national uproar on the status of Port Harcourt International
Airport as the worst international airport in Nigeria. The usage of make-shift
tents, to house passengers arriving from different countries of the world into
Nigeria via this airport, brought the insufferable decay in the country’s aviation sector to limelight. If a nation that prides itself as the largest economy in Africa cannot maintain its airports—which serve as number one image maker to visitors, is it the more sophisticated issue of
safety in aviation industry that it could guarantee her citizens and visitors?
http://sunnewsonline.com/wither-aviation-sector-without-road-map
Stakeholders Differ on FG’s
Planned Concession of Airports (Vanguard)
Aviation stakeholders, weekend, said the Federal
Government’s plan to concession four viable major airports in Abuja, Lagos,
Kano and Port Harcourt, will help make the airports rank among the best in the
world in terms of facilities.
This came as members of the Air Transport Service
Senior Staff Association, ATSSAN, and the National Union of Air Transport
Employees, NUATE, vowed to resist the plan, saying, if necessary, the workers
will mobilize and buy over the airports themselves.
The author of “Nigerian Aviation Fact Book,” Mike
Chikeka, said it had become impossible for government to continue to fund
airport development, noting that airport facilities would become obsolete and
possibly jeopardise safety if the private sector is not
allowed to rescue the sector. Speaking on behalf of
the workers, weekend in Lagos on the concessioning plan, Assistant General
Secretary of NUATE, Mr. Olayinka Abioye, said government was not putting the
interest of the workers into consideration and
threatened that the workers would resist the plan to
concession the airports. He recalled that when the defunct Nigeria Airways was
liquidated, workers were left to die without their pay off or their pensions
which rose to over N72 billion.
Planned Concession of International Airports(Nation)
Workers
are threatening to mobilise against the Federal Government’s planned concession
of the international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. But, to
industry players, concession is the way to go to attract investments in airport
infrastructure financing and management.
The
aviation sector may be getting set for another round of controversy following
threats by workers to mobilise against the planned concession of four
international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. The sector just
overcame the attempted takeover of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).
The
workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees
(NUATE), said the government should consider other options to make the airports
viable, rather than giving out the juicy terminals to private sector players
under what they have described as ‘unwanted concession‘.
But,
industry players have advised the union to see the bigger picture by embracing
the concession, which they said would bring about private sector financing and
effective management of the terminals.
They said
private sector participation would make the airports more effective as the
government could no longer fund infrastructure development.
The union
said it would mobilise its members to frustrate the exercise because their
interests have not been factored in by the government.
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