Nigeria’s Aviation News Headlines for Tuesday August 9, 2016

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Aviation Agencies under Pressure over N40bn Airline Debts (DailyTrust)

The federal government is mounting pressure on aviation agencies to recover over N40 billion debts from some debtor airlines, Daily Trust can report.
It was learnt that in the effort, one of the agencies, the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), has begun to ground the operations of some debtor airlines.
Findings by our correspondent indicated that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is being owed over N10bn in Ticket Sale Charge (TSC) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), N20bn while NAMA is being owed over N8bn.
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/aviation-agencies-under-pressure-over-n40bn-airline-debts/158330.html

 
Aero Contractor's Plane: Photo credit: google.com.ng

Persistent Fuel Shortage Worries Airline Operators (Leadership)

Worried by the continuous scarcity of aviation fuel, otherwise known as Jet A1, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has called on the federal government to wade into the difficulties they have been experiencing in recent times.
The call was made by the chairman of the AON, Captain Nogie Meggison, on the heels of a consistent unavailability of the product in the past few weeks for airlines to conduct their operations thereby, leading to 50 per cent delays or cancellation of flights.
According to Meggison, “We have been forced to cry out about the perennial problem at this juncture because it continues to put us in a difficult situation to go an extra mile to fulfil our obligations to our esteemed customers in spite of the inconveniences that go with it.
“However, we are at the mercy of the oil marketers and many times our hands are tied such that we are left with no other option than to cancel flights.”
Speaking further, the AON chairman noted that the marketers have been increasing the price consistently to an unbearable point to the reach of airlines.
“Till April this year, I bought Jet A1 Fuel for N105 a litre. About a month ago the price jumped to N145. Two weeks later it rose to about N200 a litre. Today the price has skyrocketed above N200 a litre. This has greatly increased our operational cost,” he
lamented.
http://leadership.ng/business/545196/persistent-fuel-shortage-worries-airline-operators

 

 
Aircraft Hangar: Photo credit: google.com

Foreign Firm to Build Aircraft Repair Facility (Punch)

 The International Aviation Group, a global aviation project management conglomerate, is to build in the country a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for aircraft operating within and outside Nigeria, the Federal Government has said.
It stated that the group had also expressed readiness to build an aviation academy in Abuja in a bid to reduce the burden on the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria for the production of relevant manpower for the industry.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, disclosed this in his office in Abuja while playing host to the Chief Executive Officer of Crestfields Support Services, Mr. Osahemi Idahosa, who was in company with the Chairman of IAG, Mr. Stuart Harrison.
Sirika assured his guests of the best return on their investments, saying that Nigeria remained the only country where the rate of return was close to 50 per cent, describing the development as the best in Africa.
He said the investments were not only desirable, but profitable, and noted that the establishment of the facility in Nigeria would reduce the cost of aircraft maintenance and facilitate the transformation of the country into a regional aviation hub.
The minister informed the team of the Federal Government’s plan to establish an aviation university in Abuja, with technical support from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.


Delta Planes, photo credit: http://abcnews.go.com

 Chaos for Tens of Thousands of Air Passengers (DailyTelegraph)
…Power glitch grounds Delta’s 300 flight world-wide
…Flight fails to land in Lagos
Delta Airlines flights worldwide, including those coming to Nigeria were grounded due to a computer failure. When New Telegraph visited the Lagos airport at 5pm, yesterday, the airline whose aircraft lands at Lagos was yet to arrive as passengers were frantically getting to be rebooked on another flight.
As at 7pm yesterday, there was no sign that the flight would arrive while an airline worker said Delta does not operate to Lagos on Monday as it has reduced its daily frequency to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos to six times a week.
The airline reported earlier the ‘systems are down everywhere’ causing chaos. Consequently, not a single Delta plane could take off for five hours on Monday morning.
https://newtelegraphonline.com/chaos-tens-thousands-air-passengers/

 

Wanted: Local Aircraft Repair Facility (Nation)


Experts under the aegis of Aviation Roundtable (ART) in Lagos have canvassed the building of a national hangar. According to them, the hangar will curb save capital flight and create jobs for indigenous engineers and other professionals, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports.
An indigenous maintenance facility can save the country N20.15 billion in capital flight every 18 months, as well as reduce by between 60 per cent and 70 per cent the demand for foreign currency to pay for aircraft checks abroad, the Chief Executive of
Aero contractors Company of Nigeria, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, has said.
Akinkuotu said having an aircraft Maintenance Repair Organisation (MRO) would increase savings and the survival ratio of Nigerian airlines.
He said it cost over $1 million to carry out a C-check on an aircraft deployed for scheduled operations, saying given the exchange rate of over N310 to the US dollar, Nigerian airlines would spend about N310 million to carry out the check on a single scheduled aircraft.
For 65 aircraft registered by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to carry out scheduled flights, he said the cumulative costs would amount to over N20.15 billion every 18 months.
According to NCAA’s requirements, any aircraft registered in Nigeria is mandated to carry out C- check every 18 months.
http://thenationonlineng.net/wanted-local-aircraft-repair-facility

 

Government Begins Airlifting of 80,000 Pilgrims (Guardian)

No fewer than 80,000 pilgrims have been scheduled to be airlifted for this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia. The airlifting exercise, which began yesterday at Sultan Abubakar III Airport, Sokoto, will last five weeks.
Pilgrims from Sokoto and Zamfara states were among those airlifted on the inaugural flight. According to a Director in the Ministry of Transport and Chairman of the Aviation monitoring committee, Adamu Wakil, the pilgrims would be airlifted from 17 airports.
Wakil said safety and security infrastructure were being given priority in airports to ensure seamless passenger facilitation.In his welcome address, chairman of the National Hajj Commission (NHC), Abdullahi Muktar Mohammed, urged the pilgrims to be good ambassadors and shun acts that could dishonour their faith.
http://guardian.ng/news/government-begins-airlifting-of-80000-pilgrims

 

Dollar Scarcity: Petrol Price Hike Looms, Marketers Say (Punch)

 Nigerians should prepare for another increase in the pump prices of petrol, due to the continued scarcity of foreign exchange to finance the importation of the product, oil marketers have said.
According to them, the United States dollar hit an all-time high last week, as it exchanged for N400 at the parallel market.
Worried by the development, the marketers say if not urgently addressed, the pump prices of petrol will not remain at the approved rates.
The Federal Government liberalised the downstream sector of the petroleum industry on May 11, 2016, and announced an increase in the pump prices of petrol from N86 and N86.5 per litre to between N135 and N145 per litre.
It also stated that the market was to be driven by the factors of demand and supply, as it was now largely in the hands of private sector players.
But oil marketers told our correspondent on Monday that despite the competition in the business, they were struggling to retain the price of the Premium Motor Spirit within the approved range.

http://punchng.com/dollar-scarcity-petrol-price-hike-looms-marketers-say

 

Ghana Beats Nigeria, Passes Petroleum Bill (Punch)

As Nigeria continues to dither over the Petroleum Industry Bill, which has suffered setbacks in two consecutive legislative tenures, Ghana has passed its own petroleum bill into law in a bid to lure investments.
Ghana’s legislature passed the Petroleum Production and Exploration Bill into law on Thursday to replace the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984, our correspondent gathered on Monday.
The country’s Energy Minister, Emmanuel Buah, said the new law would create an attractive environment for potential investors to participate in the sector by providing certainty and transparency in the ground rules for operations.
Hope that the PIB would be given quick attention by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was rife last year when the new government came on stream.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, recently said that the nation was losing over $15bn annually to the non-passage of the PIB.
In April, the Senate started the legislative procedure on a new draft of the PIB, named the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, and it scaled first reading on April 13.
The PIGB was harmonised by the Senate and House of Representatives following a prolonged silence by the Presidency on the PIB despite continued agitation for its passage by the citizenry.





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