The Nation Newspaper

Category: Aviation

  • British Airways expands services in West Africa

    British Airways expands services in West Africa

    THE British Airways is increasing its West African schedule, adding a fourth weekly flight to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

    This is coming nine months after the airline started operating on the routes. It will add 33 more capacity to the route between Freetown in Monrovia and London.

    The flight will arrive at Terminal 5 in the evening, allowing same-day connections to Washington; saving the need for an overnight transit and visa.

    The flight timing also permits better connections to a host of other United States and Canadian cities as well as United Kingdom domestic destinations.

    The new service starts on October 31, this year, using Boeing 767 aircraft in a three-cabin configuration; World Traveller, World Traveller Plus and Club World. The flight will be on sale from Tuesday, June 11.

    “It is unusual to add more flights so soon after starting a new route, but we’re responding to strong demand in these fast-growing West-African economies.

    In scheduling the flight, we’ve taken into account feedback from our customers about onward connections and on which days they’d prefer to fly,” says Gavin Halliday, general manager for Africa and Europe.

    He said British Airways has increased its African network, adding three destinations and 21 services since acquiring bmi just over a year ago.

     

     

    It also announced an increase in its schedule to Marrakech from daily to 10 flights a week and a third weekly service to Agadir. These services start at the end of October.

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    > In East and Southern Africa, it has upped the Nairobi frequencies to eight a week. In South Africa, it confirmed three additional frequencies to Johannesburg on top of the existing double-daily schedule.

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    > “The acquisition of bmi has enabled us to expand our flying programme in Africa to serve 18 routes in 15 countries. We now fly to more places, more often than we ever have before in the 80 years we have served the continent. These flights link growing African destinations to London and provide onward connections to the world’s business capitals,” says Halliday.

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  • Virgin to pull out of Ghana

    The employees of Virgin Atlantic in Ghana will lose their jobs in three months as the airline will shut its offices in Accra after its last flight on September 23.

    In a statement last weekend, the airline, which operates direct flights on the Accra-London route, said it was closing shop in Ghana.

    It said its decision was due to “exceptionally high fuel costs, a challenging wider economic environment and an inability to operate morning arrivals from Accra due to scarcity of slots at Heathrow.”

    When the last flight takes off in September,the airline will close  its offices in Accra and the 16 staff hired through a General Sales Agent will be made redundant, Joanne Foster, Virgin’s Communication Manager in-charge of the UK, India, Middle East and Africa, said.

    Asked about the implication of the decision on the employees, she said: “We are discussing the details with the employees and will be offering them a redundancy package as well as provide support to assist in their efforts to seek re-employment.”

    Ms. Foster also said the airline might return when the economy improved.

  • IATA cautions African carriers

    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that African carriers would face high operating costs in the third quarter of this year, with the cost of aviation fuel averaging 21 per cent higher than other parts of the world.

    Its Chief Executive Officer and Director-General of IATA, Mr Tony Tyler, explained that African carriers would also face stiff opposition from carriers outside the region, in long haul operations.

    Tyler said carriers from Africa would need to work hard to resolve aero- political barriers that still stands in the way of enhanced regional connectivity.

    He said: “The region’s airlines continue to face high operating costs, especially for fuel, which is on average 21 per cent more costly than in other parts of the world.

    Long haul services face stiff competition from carriers outside the region, while significant aero-political barriers still stand in the way of enhanced regional connectivity.

    He said: ”African airlines continue to be the weakest performers, with passenger load factors below 70 per cent operating margins averaging less than one per cent and profits of just $100 million.

    Compared with the $100 million loss of 2012, however, this is a better performance. Passenger capacity growth 6.7 per cent is expected to be outstripped by demand growth of 7.5 per cent This will improve load factors.”

    Meanwhile, the IATA upgraded its global outlook for the airline industry to a $12.7 billion profit in 2013 on $711 billion in revenues.

    This is $2.1 billion better than the $10.6 billion profit projected in March of this year and an improvement on the $7.6 billion profit generated in 2012.

    “This is a very tough business. The day-to-day challenges of keeping revenues ahead of costs remain monumental. Many airlines are struggling. On average airlines will earn about $4 for every passenger carried—less than the cost of a sandwich in most places,” said Tyler.

    He said: “Profitability is thin, but there is a solid performance improvement story over the last seven to eight years. More efficient use of assets is the main contributor.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • NCAA seeks information sharing on aviation threat

    To promote aviation security, airline operators, security agencies and airports’ airports have been urged to embrace information sharing.

    Exchange of information , according to the Acting Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Joyce Nkemakolam, is a way of preventing security threats in the industry.

    In an address at a stakeholders’ seminar at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos with the theme: Dealing with emerging challenges in aviation security, Nkemakolam, represented by the Director, Customer Protection Directorate, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi said the consequences of insider threat to aviation security world-wide remains high.

    He said hijackers had changed their style from hijacking to blowing up of aircraft in other climes, warning that some aviation security personnel might give out their country due to enticement.

    According to Nkemakolam, threat to civil aviation industry has changed since September 11, 2001 when terrorists attacked the twin towers in the United States.

    Before, he said, terrorists used massive weapons, but have changed to liquids and explosives, which could eliminate hundreds of people in seconds.

    Terrorism threat remained the greatest challenge to safety, he said, to the world, challenging aviation security personnel to be more vigilant at all times as “these deadly men are evolving new ways of beating security.”

    The Vice President, Air Transport Staff Senior Services of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, Comrade Ahmadu Ilitrus, urged airports’users to tackle pilferage and stealing onboard of plane.

    He said the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and cameras at strategic places within the airport would help reduce stealing.

    He said: “It is very important for the airlines and other players in the industry to have effective security training for their personnel. It is not enough for the personnel to be trained in accordance with ICAO standards alone, but they should be periodically trained.

    “Any staff with questionable characters should be dealt with accordingly, which I think will send a note of warning to others and will help in checkmating criminal activities among the people in the sector because pilferage and stealing are done with the collaboration of insiders.”

    An industry player, Comrade Chukwuemeke Iwelumo, said the security challenges called for closer collaboration

    He said: “Serious security challenges like the one that is prevalent in the country today calls for urgent and collaborative action by all stakeholders to stem the development.’’

     

  • Labour threatens to picket airlines 

    Trade’ unions may be forced to picket domestic airlines that disallow their workers from joining any group of their choice, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Omar Abdulwaheed has said.

    He said the airlines’ attitude was tantamount to depriving the workers their freedom of association as enshrined in the constitution.

    He said no efforts would be spared to ensure that workers were allowed to free themselves from the “shackles of slave drivers in the aviation sector.”

    Omar spoke at the Ninth Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) in Abuja.

    He said it was disgusting that out of all the country’s domestic airlines, only Aero Contractors allowed its workers to join the union of their choice.

    The airlines’ action, he said was illegal, adding: ”If foreign airlines, such as British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and others that are flying into the country can respect our laws, it is shocking that our own Nigerian airlines are infringing on workers’ freedom of association.”

    Omar, who vowed that the Labour was ready to put an end to this, hinted that airlines would be picketed soon.

    He said: ”We shall start with the big one among them after which we will move to others.”

    He assured the workers’ delegates of Labour’s support in the fight against the airlines and governments agencies which trample on their’ rights.

    Omar praised the NUATE executive for its achievements, urging the leaders and their members not to allow any management to infiltrate their ranks.

     

  • Ethiopian Airlines Academy graduates 26 pilots

    Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy has graduated 26 pilots trained with Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL), which is a first in Africa.

    The academy, according to a statement, has been the first in Africa and among the few in the world to start the ICAO certified training in July 2011.

    The MPL training was kicked off in partnership with Flight Path International. In addition to the 26 MPL pilots, Ethiopian also graduated 68 cabin crew trainees on the same day.

    The MPL training is a response to the ever-changing and technology driven aviation industry. Ethiopian Aviation Academy is now one of the few in the world and the only one in Africa providing these training.

  • Why aviation growth is slow, by NAMA chief

    The Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh, has attributed the slow pace of growth of aviation in Africa to poor aerospace development, inadequate airport and airspace infrastructure.

    Udoh listed other challenges the industry is grappling with to include safety, security, inadequate human resources and poor budgetary provision.

    Speaking at a seminar in Lagos last weekend, he said until the government took seriously the role of infrastructure in airspace safety and security, the growth of the industry could be stunted.

    The areas that are critical for the development of the industry include a consistent plan by government to address issues bordering on airport management and security.

    He said: “The aviation sector continues to grapple with a myriad of challenges. Some of these challenges include: poor budgetary provision and funding of the industry, weak project matrix, due process and other procurement bottlenecks, change management failures, liquidation of national airlines as well as issues of privatisation.”

    He explained that if the industry must rescue itself from its slow pace of growth, government must resolve issues bordering on challenges of human resource.

    Udoh said if Nigeria aims to be among one of the developed aviation nations, government should consider a framework that would help to achieve safer skies.

     

     

     

  • Why there is delay in getting airline licence

    How can the acquisition of Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) be hastened? It is by employing move technical hands at the agency, says on airline operator, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia

    He said inadequate personnel at the NCAA slows down the process of getting AOC.

    He spoke last weekend while recieving the AOC for his firm, West Link Airlines, a chartered operator for the Umra, lesser hajj.

    On why it took the airline years to get its AOC, Mshelia said there were delays and issues associated with the processes, especially with documentation and required manpower.

    “What I gathered in the system is not new to any of us. When the system has enough manpower, perhaps it may cut down on the time spent to acquire the AOC.”

    “The operator too is also a problem if a document is given to be returned in a day and it takes a week the operator is also delaying himself.”

    Mshelia also said the airline did things exceptionally from others and give its clientel and passengers the best of services.

    “I wouldn’t say it will be different, we would definitely do thing differently because our purpose is to replicate what we. When we travel out.”

    “ Our local carriers over the years have tried our best, we are not saying they are not doing well, we are saying there is room for improvement and we are that airline that will bring improvement and we are putting things in place to make sure that when. We start operating you can look at your watch and know that WestLink has flown.”

    MishAviation in Ghana, will be graduating students in the next few days and this is because of the passion for the industry.

    Presenting the AOC to Mshelia, NCAA’s Director of Airworthiness Standards Benedict Adeyelika, advised the airlines to maintain good safety records.

    According to him, the entrance of Westlink Airlines into the aviation market has opened way for other interested would be airline operators to apply for their AOCs.

    The director assured of NCAA’s assistance to the airline. He advised that rules and regulations guiding the airline operations should be applied.

    Mshelia said his quest to start WestLink started in 1999, but was halted because of the Jos crisis in 2001, noting that the airline wanted to start from the Plateau State capital.

  • NAMA adopts new flight control method to cut cost

    The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) migrated from precedural traffic services to area radar control of planes to cut cost, its Managing Director, Nnamdi Udoh, has said .

    The migration, he said, would lead to the saving of billions of naira in revenue yearly.

    With the migration, airlines would spend less time getting to their destinations, he said, adding that the new technology has put Nigeria in the league of countries with sophisticated air navigation facilities.

    Udoh listed its benefits to include increased airspace capacity, improved safety, reduced fuel consumption and flight time and efficient flow of air traffic within the airspace.

    According to him, with the new technology, pilots could achieve more efficiency in navigation in the airspace.

    He said the agency had deployed its surveillance facility for area radar control from its two area control centres in Lagos and Kano to allow for optimal flight operations by pilots.

    Flights by some foreign airlines, such as Air France, British Airway’s, Lufhansa, Air Portugal, Turkey Airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Saudi Air, he said, had taken advantage of the last week.They flights were vectored on radar within the Kano flight information region.

    Area radar control is air traffic control service provided for airplanes flying within the Flight Information Region (FIR).

    He said NAMA has upgraded the radar maps and harmonised with its data base for accurate co-ordination of traffic when the enroute area radar control is fully deployed.

    He said: ”This technology will save airlines cost and reduce the flight time from take off to destination from the normal flight time of about one hour twenty minutes to about forty five minutes. This is good for the industry. “

    Udoh said plans were afoot to engage the College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, in the training of its personnel to man the system, adding that the more than 35 minutes saved during each flight will conserve more funds for airlines, running into billions of naira yearly.

    He said a five-year maintenance agreement has been signed with the contractor from France, which would ensure that engineers from the agency are trained on how to man the system.

    Udoh said: ”With this migration, NAMA air traffic controllers could monitor the movement of aircraft in flight with the appropriate coordinates from the point of take off to landing with correspondence of on board and ground equipment.

    ”We have the requisite and mandatory training for area radar controllers in Nigeria. We can now carry out positive control of aircraft from take off to landings . Air traffic controllers can now watch aircraft from point to point within the area radar coverage in the entire airspace.”

    Udoh said the migration was novel, because it was the first time the industry was complying with the technology that is already in use in other parts of the world, explaining that the new technology would give accurate location of the aircraft to traffic controllers.

    The NAMA boss said the migration will add value to the agency, because it has been incorporated into the automation of aeronautical information and other components of the radar coverage of Nigeria.

    He explained that under the new arrangement, air traffic controllers can monitor aircraft in the airspace from two locations in the Lagos and Kano Flight Information region.

  • Experts condemn House report on Rivers, NCAA face-off over aircraft

    The House of Representatives was biased in its probe of the row over the ownership of a Bombardier Global Express aircraft allegedly owned by the Rivers State Government, some aviation experts have said.

    Sheri Kyari, an aircraft engineer and Uche Ojaji, a pilot, said the lawmakers were unfair to the Federal Government, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA) in their report. The lawmakers upbraided the government, NCAA for undue interference on the handling of the matter.

    Kyari said: “It is embarrassing that the revered House of Representatives could make public such one-sided report without objectively looking at the case on the table and also carrying out thorough investigation; rather, it hurriedly put out a report and blamed those it had already indicted before investigating the incidents that led to the disagreement between the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Rivers State government.

    “By that action, the House is now functioning as the regulator which should not be so. I don’t expect them to come up with a report without hearing from NCAA, Caverton Helicopters and the Ministry of Aviation. The National Assembly should be able to balance its investigation by giving Caverton Helicopters fair hearing.”

    Ojadi called for a system where NCAA would monitor the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) so that it could step in during situations like the matter between Rivers and the NCAA.

    He said: “NCAA as regulator has oversight responsibilities. It issues clearance to aircraft to fly and NAMA enforces that regulation; so if NAMA does not act appropriately NCAA should step in. NAMA should not have allowed the aircraft to even take off when its clearance certificate had expired.”