Air Peace condemns attacks on employees

Air Peace has condemned the attacks on its staff by some passengers in Abuja, Lagos, Calabar and other parts of the country.

The airline in a statement issued by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah on Friday, warned that it would no longer condone members of the public endangering the lives of its workers.

Dana Air plane aborts flight after mid-air collision with bird

A Dana Air aircraft en-route Port Harcourt on Friday morning, made an ‘air return’, some minutes after take-off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport II, Lagos.

Two Air Peace aircraft collide at Lagos airport

Two aircraft belonging to Air Peace Limited had a ground collision, on Thursday, while one of them was trying to maneuver its way out at the apron wing of the local terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MM2) Ikeja, Lagos.

Overland Airways resumes flight services to Abuja

 

Overland Airways, Nigeria’s frontline airline, has announced plans to relocate flight services back to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from the Kaduna International Airport following the reopening of the Abuja Airport..

Air Peace condemns attacks on employees

Air Peace has condemned the attacks on its staff by some passengers in Abuja, Lagos, Calabar and other parts of the country.

The airline in a statement issued by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah on Friday, warned that it would no longer condone members of the public endangering the lives of its workers.

Dana Air plane aborts flight after mid-air collision with bird

A Dana Air aircraft en-route Port Harcourt on Friday morning, made an ‘air return’, some minutes after take-off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport II, Lagos.

The aircraft, with registration number 5N-SRI returned after colliding with a bird mid-air. The Communications Manager of the airline, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa, confirmed the incident in a statement.

Ezenwa said the captain took a professional decision by returning to the Lagos airport.

Airlines resume flights as Abuja airport reopens

Normal aviation services resumed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, (NAIA), Abuja yesterday as the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, re-opened the facilities a day earlier than the April 19 schedule.

The airport was shut for six weeks to enable the contractor repair its failed runway with Abuja-bound air traffic diverted to Kaduna during the period.

American Airlines suspends employee over fight with passenger after woman 'hit' with stroller

Photo: A passenger on board the aircraft recorded the dispute before the American Airlines flight took off. (Facebook: Surain Adyanthaya)

American Airlines has suspended an employee after a video showed an altercation on one of its planes involving crew, several passengers and a crying woman carrying a young child.

An American Airlines employee violently took a stroller from the woman, hitting her with it and just missing her child, Facebook user Surain Adyanthaya said in a post accompanying the video he put on the site on Friday.

British Airways commends Nigerian government on timely completion of Abuja Airport

British Airways. PHOTO: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Image

British Airways has commended the Nigerian government on the timely completion of the repairs on the Abuja airport runway.

Mr Kola Olayinka, the airline’s Regional Commercial Manager for West Africa, lauded the government in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.

Nigeria has capacity to create two airports in each state, says Odujinrin

Ademilola Odujinrin

A Nigerian pilot, Captain Ademilola Odujinrin, who made history becoming the first African pilot to fly solo around the world, has said Nigeria has capacity to create two airports in each state of the federation but lack drive to push for it. 

Abuja runway 96% ready as airport reopens next Wednesday

Sirika (middle) and officials inspecting the Abuja runway

All appears set for the reopening of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after six weeks of runway rehabilitation exercise. While workers are busy with finishing touches on the critical infrastructure, local airlines and their foreign counterparts have reopened sales and bookings on the Abuja route.

‘Why local airlines lag behind in GDS, travel technology’

President, Sabre West Africa, Gabriel Olowo, said the importance of GDS among other innovations in global aviation cannot be over-emphasized, but Nigeria has really not come onboard despite huge potentials in the travelling population.

 Sabre targets 30% market share in Nigeria

Low uptake of emerging technology in the air travel sector has been blamed for poor visibility and stuttering growth of local airlines in the country.The Guardian learnt that local airlines, unlike their foreign counterparts, are either unreceptive or unwilling to pay for technology like Global Distribution System (GDS) that is the in-thing in air travel business globally.

Condemnation trail Arik’s N387b debt estimate

PHOTO: Arik Air

A groundswell of condemnation has trailed alleged mismanagement Arik Airline following additional revelations by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) that the former managers systematically plunged the airline into N387 billion debt.

Dana Air

Dana Air has bagged the prestigious Leadership Brand of the Year 2016 award, held recently at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

Meanwhile, its counterpart, Air Peace, has also the City People’s Airline of the Year Award for its outstanding performance despite the huge challenges faced by carriers in the country last year.

Airlines, NCAA bicker over N15b debt

Ghana removes value added tax
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and its operating airlines are currently bickering over debts owe by the operators. While the apex regulatory body estimates the debt in excess of N15 billion, the airlines are insisting that they owed only N2 billion.

Flying doctors seek investment in air ambulance services

Dr. Ola Brown

Flying Doctors Nigeria has advocated for improved investment and development in air ambulance infrastructure to ensure patients got prompt healthcare.

So doing, the government will save billions of dollars just by concentrating expert resources and reducing healthcare spending.

Arik, MedView, Aero Top Airlines Owes NCAA N15bn In Unremitted Passengers Service Charge To

As the controversies concerning the remittance of 5 per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC) to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and indigenous airlines continue, Sahara Reporters has uncovered the breakdown of the debts owe the regulatory agency by the airlines. A document made available to our correspondent indicated that 13 airlines are indebted to NCAA on the 5 per cent PSC alone. However, some of the debtors have closed shop while many of them are still in operations. 

As the controversies concerning the remittance of 5 per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC) to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and indigenous airlines continue, Sahara Reporters has uncovered the breakdown of the debts owe the regulatory agency by the airlines.

A document made available to our correspondent indicated that 13 airlines are indebted to NCAA on the 5 per cent PSC alone.

However, some of the debtors have closed shop while many of them are still in operations.  The document indicated that the troubled Arik Air, which is under the receivership of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is the highest debtor with N9,460,745,429.96 accumulated as debt. The debt was as at December 2016 while the airline was yet to pay any amount of money to the agency in 2017.

Air Peace plane

The document revealed that Arik Air was supposed to remit N61.4vmillion to NCAA monthly, but has failed in this regularly and only pays stipends to the coffers of the agency monthly.

The debt of Arik Air alone is about 70 percent of defaults by local airlines. Following in the footstep of Arik Air is Dana Air with a monthly remittance of N57. 5 million, but was indebted to NCAA to the tune of N1.2billion as at December 2016. Besides, Med-View Airlines has a total debt of N1.03billion debt to NCAA.

Aviation union urges airlines to comply with NCAA’s directive

The Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) has urged domestic airlines to comply with the directive  to automate their remittance of the five per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charges (TSC/CSC).

The President of  ATSSSAN, Ahmadu Illitrus, made the call while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Lagos.

Nigeria to Lose $68m to Saudi Arabian Airlines for 2017 Hajj Exercise

 

Nigeria risks loosing $68million to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the forthcoming 2017 hajj, following the allocation of 45 per cent of the total pilgrims to a Saudi Arabia-based airline, FlyNas, by National Hajj Commission (NAHCON).

Already, local stakeholders in the sector have raised eyebrow as they described the move as a  “rip off that has the capacity to stunt growth in Nigeria airline industry.”

Reps implore aviation ministry to reopen Abuja airport as scheduled

 Mrs Onyejeocha Nkeiruka, Chairman House Committee on Aviation, on Wednesday implored the Ministry of Aviation to ensure that Nmandi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, was reopened within the stipulated six weeks.

Nkeiruka, made the call while speaking to newsmen in Abuja during her oversight visit to the Abuja and Kaduna airports.

Aviation sector suffered 13.3% decline in Q4 2016 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that measured output from the nation’s aviation industry showed that the sector suffered the largest year on year fall in the final quarter of 2016, declining by 13.3 per cent.

According to the Q4 Full Year 2016 Air Transportation Data made available yesterday by the bureau, output of the aviation transport sector in real terms declined by 4.9 per cent between 2015 and 2016.

Amadeus, Dana Air partner on content

Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali (left) and Communications, Media Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, during the presentation of Leadership Brand of the Year Award 2016 to Dana Air

Amadeus, a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry has announced full content agreement with Nigeria’s Dana Air.Under the agreement all Amadeus subscribers in Nigeria and worldwide can now access Dana Air’s full product range, schedules and availability under the same terms and conditions as Dana Air’s website, call centres or ticket offices.