Nigeria's Aviation News Headlines for Tuesday August 2, 2016




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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 by
contradictory 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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