Gozzylous Blog

The federal government has designated one of the nation’s major operators, MedView Airline to the Lagos-London route in addition to nine other international destinations. The objective is to encourage domestic carriers to build capacity and compete on international destinations in order to erode the market which over 94 per cent is controlled by foreign carriers. The route is a lucrative one which has for decades been dominated by British Airways which with Virgin Atlantic fly directly from Lagos to London, before Arik started operating about six years with appreciable high load factor. The approval was contained in a letter addressed to the airline management dated April 23rd, 2015 by the Ministry of Aviation. The letter, which was signed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka by the deputy director, air transport management in the Ministry, M.S. Noibi listed the new designated routes as: London in United Kingdom, Lisbon in Portugal, Douala in Ca...

Arik Air, West Africa’s largest airline has been ranked as one of the top ten airlines in the world to offer most comfortable economy class seat. According to a report by www.airlinequality.com Arik Air is among ten airlines in the world that offers most comfortable seats in Economy Class on their wide-body aircraft for medium and long haul flights.  The report notes that whereas the majority of airlines around the world offer 31 to 32 with some offering even as low as 29 to 30 inches, Arik Air is one of the “elite few that still provide a comfortable 34 ins seat pitch where travelers will enjoy greatest comfort” Other Airlines rated in this category are: Qatar Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Air China, Garuda Indonesia, and Korean Air. Commenting on the rating, Managing Director of Arik Air Mr. Chris Ndulue while noting that the rating is an established fact added that all Arik Air Aircraft are ...

An Emirates A380 damaged a wheel in an unscheduled landing at a Polish airport on Wednesday after a passenger became ill. Emirates flight EK222 from Dallas to Dubai was diverted to Chopin Airport, Warsaw, when a 55-year-old Nigerian male passenger suffered a stroke. “Subsequently, the aircraft faced a technical issue on ground,” an Emirates spokesman said. “Passengers and crew safely disembarked, and Emirates arranged a replacement aircraft to bring all passengers to Dubai.” The flight had left Dallas at 12.39pm local time and landed in the Polish capital at 6.01am local time, damaging the wheel as it did so. Przemysław Przybylski, a spokesman for Chopin, Poland’s biggest and busiest international airport, said: “The airline decided the plane needed to stay at the airport. The passengers disembarked and waited at the airport for a replacement aircraft, which had been dispatched from Milan. “The replacement plane arrived in Warsaw at 1pm local time and departed at 2.20pm.” The c...

  Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest airline will from 16th February 2015 commence scheduled flight operations from Lagos, Nigeria to the Ivoirian city, Abidjan via Cotonou, Benin Republic. The new service will operate four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. On Mondays, the outbound flight will depart the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 2:45 pm (local time) and arrive at Cotonou International Airport at 3:15 pm (local time). The flight then leaves Cotonou at 4:00 pm (local time) and arrives at Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport, Abidjan at 4:20 pm (local time). The inbound flight departs Abidjan at 5:05 pm (local time) and arrives in Cotonou at 7:25 pm (local time). The flight thereafter leaves Cotonou at 8:10 pm (local time) and arrives in Lagos at 8:40 pm (local time). On other days (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays), the outbound flight departs Lagos at 11:15 am (local time) and arrives in Cotonou at 11:45 am (loc...

British Airways has given some hints to Brtons and its guests on how to enjoy their holidays for the year 2015. The Shetland, Scotland Fire Festival, Europe’s largest fire festival, celebrated at Up Helly Aa and held every last Tuesday in the month of January is top of the airline’s recommended tourist spots. “Crazy holidays conjure images of abseiling off Table Mountain or jet boating in New Zealand rather than visiting good old Blighty, but the Barmy Brits do have some wild attractions of their own. “We Brits are not as dull as some might think and there are plenty of exciting, adventurous and just plain mad things to do in the UK”, says Kola Olayinka, British Airways commercial manager for West Africa . When planning your holidays for 2015, Olayinka said it’s worth bearing in mind that the Saxon bits of the Anglo Saxons trace their ancestry back to the original mad marauders, the Vikings, arguably the pioneers of adventure tourism. The locals dress up in...

Indications emerged over the weekend that no fewer than 232 staff of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, would be disengaged before end of this+- year. Staffers to be disengaged are those who have put in the maximum 35 years service and those who have reached the mandatory 60 years age of retirement, according to civil service rule. National Mirror gathered that most of those to be affected are professionals and technical staff of the agency. However, stakeholders and professionals are worried that there is no adequate preparation for their replacement by management of the agency. About four of NAMA’s staff would be affected by the tenure policy of maximum eight years for staff who have reached level 17 in service. Besides, apart from NAMA, investigations showed that other agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, will also lose hundreds of staff wit...

Southwest Airlines has been hit with a record $1.6 million fine for keeping passengers trapped on the tarmac for hours at Midway Airport in Chicago. The airline failed to clear 16 aircraft off of the runway in a timely fashion on the evening of January 2, 2014, according to the Department of Transportation. Regulations require that flyers must be let off a plane within three hours of landing. A bad winter storm was a major factor in the delay. But the DOT says that Southwest’s crew scheduling system also malfunctioned, leaving the airline without enough crew members to clear the arriving flights. “We are disappointed that the government would seek additional money,” Southwest (LUV) said in a statement, “after the enormous penalties imposed on Southwest by Mother Nature during the January 2014 winter storms.” The airline said it has since made made “significant investments” in its operations to prevent such delays from happening again. It also paid $269,000 to flyers affected by the...