The Nation Newspaper

Category: Aviation

  • Africa mulls aircraft leasing firm

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) is studying the possibility of creating an aircraft-leasing firm for the continent. Details on the project is expected in the first half of 2019.

    This is just as the AfDB has commissioned a study to assess the socio-economic benefits of intra- African liberalisation as part of efforts to support the sector.

    Speaking last week at the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) annual meeting in Rabat, Morocco, the AfDB chief aviation officer, Romain Ekoto, outlined plans to set up a “robust leasing company or platform for African airlines”.

    He said the aim of the project is to overcome limited access to leased aircraft and fleet financing, particularly for smaller African airlines.

    The new entity will also provide technical assistance with airline restructuring projects, paving the way for increased private investment in the continent’s airlines.

    “We are exploring the viability of such a leasing platform, assessing the benefits for African carriers, identifying the legal arrangements and the role of the bank in setting this up. We intend to complete this work in the first semester of 2019,” Ekoto said, while delivering a keynote address to AFRAA delegates.

    His role as chief aviation officer is newly created, giving the sector a voice within the AfDB. The bank has since held an “aviation lab” with key industry stakeholders, leading to the creation of an initial aviation framework and guidelines.

    “The bank aims to support practical efforts to overcome key challenges and help promote a comprehensive transformation of the sector,” he said, listing those challenges as low disposable income among African citizens and market-access constraints, as well as inadequate infrastructure and safety standards.

    Over the last 10 years, the AfDB has invested $1 billion in the sector, with roughly 75 per cent of this being used for airport infrastructure and 25 per cent  to assist  with aircraft acquisitions.

    The AfDB also invests in safety and security initiatives, air navigation projects and regulatory pushes, like the single African air transport market(SAATM), which aims to liberalise air links between African states.

    Ekoto said African countries must sign up with SAATM as a prerequisite to access AfDB financing.

    So far, 27 states have signed with 15 agreeing to put this promise into action.

  • Air Peace apologies to passengers over flight disruptions

    Air Peace has apologized to its customers over the disruption of their flights on different routes on Friday.

    A statement issued by the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah said some of the carrier’s scheduled flights were disrupted due to a depressurization challenge on its Lagos-Enugu flight.

    Iwarah said this compelled the airline to declare the aircraft unserviceable in line with its uncompromising stance on matters of safety.

    According to him, the airline regrets the resultant delay of flights on several routes due to the development.

    He said “on Dec. 14, our Lagos-Enugu flight had a depressurization challenge, compelling us to declare it unserviceable upon safely landing at destination in line with our strict safety standards.

    “Although depressurization is a common occurrence in aviation, we sincerely regret that the incident led to the disruption of our Enugu-Lagos service and other flights the aircraft was scheduled to operate.

    Read Also: Air Peace scales safety test for B777 operations

    “We are indeed sorry for the resultant inconvenience caused our esteemed customers.

    “We have, however, made alternative arrangements to ensure the operation of the Enugu-Lagos and other services the aircraft was scheduled to do, while our team of engineers conduct proper checks on the aircraft, which has since been ferried to our base.’’

    Iwarah assured members of the flying public that Air Peace would continue to accord their safety a prime place in its operations and always act in their best interest.

    “We urge our valued customers to continue to trust us to deliver the best flight experience to them.

    “We quite understand the expectations of our esteemed customers, especially during the Yuletide and we wish to assure them that we will neither disappoint nor take their patronage and loyalty to our brand for granted.’’

    NAN

  • ‘Increased soil contamination affecting food safety, security’

    Urgent action is needed to address soil pollution and contain the multiple threats it poses to global food safety and food security, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has said.

    In a statement, FAO said thousands of chemicals, which are commercially produced on a large scale, plastic and electronic waste and non-treated waste water can all become a source of soil pollution, paving the way for the pollutants to enter the food chain with serious consequences for the health and well-being of people and planet.

    “About 33 per cent of all soils are degraded – and soils continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate,” said Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo at the World Soil Day Ceremony at FAO’s Rome headquarters.

    “Soil acts as a filter for contaminants. But when its buffering capacity is exceeded, contaminants can enter the environment and the food chain. This undermines food security by making crops risky and unsafe for consumption.”

    “Human activities are the main source of soil pollution. It is in our hands to adopt sustainable soil management practices,” she added.

    She called “for greater political support and significantly increased investment towards healthy soils.” Maintaining healthy soils helps ensure safe and nutritious foods and is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Zero Hunger.

    This year’s World Soil Day theme is: “Be the solution to soil pollution”, and FAO offers a number of recommendations on how to reduce the soil contamination at the state, industrial and consumer level.”

    For example, growing cities are producing mounds of garbage that end up in landfills and enter the soil, up to 80 per cent of which could be recycled.

    As technological progress accelerates, electronic waste is considered as a new emerging threat to soils. Fifty million tons of e-waste are generated every year, making it one of the world’s fastest growing pollution problems affecting our soils. FAO encourages people to donate or recycle old devices rather than throwing them away.

    While agrochemicals can help meet the world’s growing demand for food, they leave a legacy of soil pollution and degraded agro ecosystems. Nearly 60 per cent of the top agricultural soils in 11 European countries contain residues of multiple persistent pesticides. FAO urges governments to promote the responsible and sustainable management of agrochemicals.

    One third of the plastic produced globally ends up in our soils with plastic particles then entering the food chain and the environment. Stronger environmental policies and regulations are needed to prevent the use of excessive packaging and chemicals by industry. However, each and every person can also contribute to solving the problem by simply carrying a reusable bottle and grocery bag, and buying products with reduced or recycled packaging.

     

  • FRSC urges airports limousine drivers to be good ambassadors

    The Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) has charge members of the Airports Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) to be good ambassadors of Nigeria as they convey incoming passengers visiting the country during the yuletide to different locations across Nigeria.

    The FRSC urged the limousine operators to desist from acts capable of smearing the country’s good image before visitor as well refrain from consuming psychopathic substance that will inhibit their good judgement while driving.

    Speaking at an event to kick off the ember months motor park rally for limousine drivers across Nigeria airports at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Unit Commander of RS 2.110, Airport Command, Mr.  Judge Daniel explained that the Corp is poised to discipline any driver found to contraven safe driving regulations around the country airports.

    Read Also: FRSC to drivers: Drive safely, arrive safely

    He urged the limousine operators to imbibe the culture of safe driving among it members adding that the FRSC is ready to collaborate with them in areas of education and others.

    He said ” you must continue to exhibit the traits of been Nigerian ambassadors as you convey visitors from the airports to their different destinations. The airports environment where you operate is the first point of call for anybody visiting the country during the yuletide. You are therefore expected to portray yourself as a positive image of the country.

    The FRSC will not condone violation of it critical road offences rules and regulations such as no seatbelt, over speeding, the use of expired tyre among others”

    Unit Coordinator, Unit 83, Airport Command, Special Marshal Nnamdi Asuoha  said the sensitisation exercise was aim at keeping the limousine operators abreast with current safety rules and regulations on the Nigeria road and the need to promote Nigeria image positively by the operators.

    Leader of the limousine operators and a member of the trustees, Chief Segun Shade appealed to the FRSC to simplify the processes of acquiring the driver license affirming that the association doe not condole disobedience of traffic rules and regulations among it members.

  • NUATE embarks on protest over condition of service

    The National Union of Air Transport Employees Unions (NUATE )  is embarking on a nationwide protest over the delay in the release of the conditions of service in all aviation agencies by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

    According to a circular to  aviation workers, the decision to embark on the protest was reached after an emergency meeting of all presidents and General secretaries including key officers of the union in Lagos.

    The circular signed by Mr. Phillip Nkiru for the General Secretary read; “It was resolved that a nationwide congress of all workers in the aviation industry be converged” to express their dismay over the delay in their conditions of service by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

    “By this notice all workers in the aviation industry are enjoined to come out enmass on Friday 14th December,2018 in all their various stations to mobilize, sensitize and protest on the delay of the release of conditions of service in all aviation agencies, namely NAMA, NCAA, NCAT, FAAN, AIB, NIMET by National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission”

  • Air Peace to expand operations to MMA2

    Air Peace said on Thursday that it will move part of its flight operations to the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal  (MMA2), Lagos effective  January 2, 2019 to position itself for better service to its passengers..

    The airline, which has its main hub at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, said it would now operate its Lagos-Akure, Lagos-Asaba, Lagos-Kaduna and Lagos-Port Harcourt NAF Base flights from MMA2.

    A statement issued by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the development was in line with its expansion plan and strategy to deliver a much better experience to members of the flying public using its services.

    The airline said the expansion to MMA2 would address the space constraints it was facing at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

    “We are pleased to announce the extension of our flight operations from our main base, the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos to the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 effective from January 2, 2019. We will now operate our Lagos-Akure, Lagos-Asaba, Lagos-Kaduna and Lagos-Port Harcourt NAF Base flights from MMA2. Other new domestic routes we plan to launch soon will also be done form the facility.

    “Other domestic flights out of Lagos will, however, operate from our main Base, the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. We are quite hopeful that the expansion of our Lagos base to MMA2 will afford us the space and convenience to deliver first-class flight experience to our loyal customers.

    “The extension of our operations could not have come at a better time than the Yuletide season. As is the experience around this time of the year, we anticipate a great leap in the demand for air travel. Already, we are creating more flights to cater to the expected rise in the demand for air travel this period.

    We have also launched a good number of routes in the last one year. As a customer-oriented carrier, it is only strategic that we seek a better operational atmosphere for seamless passenger facilitation and exceptional customer service experience. This exactly is what MMA2 offers with its state-of-the-art facilities and we are indeed proud of our decision to annex it to our Lagos hub,” Air Peace said

  • Ethiopian Airline offers 25 per cent discount for flights

    Ethiopian Airlines said Wednesday that it is offering 25 percent discount on fares to selected destinations from Lagos to all it travel partners.

    The offer, the carrier said is one of the ways of appreciating its esteemed customers and in celebration of the yuletide season,

    According to the airline, sales of the discounted fares had commence since December 12,  2018 to  December 31,  2018. Ethiopian Airlines said the activation date for booked tickets by customers will commence on the first of January 2019.

    According to the airline, the selected destinations include: Dubai International Airport, Khartoum International Airport, Sudan, Cairo International Airport, Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Hamad International Airport, Doha, Kuwait International Airport, King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Other destinations are: Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Lapangan Terbang Changi, Singapore, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Kigali International Airport, Kigali Rwanda.

    It further stated that the fares discount also covers destinations such as Entebbe International Airport Entebbe, Uganda, O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, Cape Town International Airport Aéroport International De Djibouti, Dulles International Airport, Washington D.C, Los Angeles International Airport,  O’hare International Airport, Chicago.

    Other destinations include: Liberty International Airport, Newarknjusa, Flughafen Frankfurt Am Main Frankfurt, Aéroport International De Genève, Oslo Lufthavn, Oslo Norway, Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath Dublin Ireland and Manchester Airport, Manchester, UK. Ethiopian Airlines stated that customers will have to travel on New Year day to enjoy the 25 percent discount.

     

  • IATA forecast $300m loss for African carriers in 2019

    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has forecast bleak outing  for Nigeria and African airlines in 2019  affirming that the  continent’s carriers are expected to report a $300 million net loss .

    The projected loss is a slight improvement of $400 million net loss recorded in 2018.

    Director-General of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac made the disclosure at the global IATA Media Day at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva in a paper titled, “Cautious optimism extends into 2019 airlines heading for a decade in the black”.

    He said the precarious situation makes Africa the weakest region as it has been over the past four years, stressing that performance is improving but only slowly.

    His words, “Losses are expected to be cut in 2019 as fuel prices decreases. The region benefits from higher-than-average yields and lower operating costs in some categories. However, few airlines in the region are able to achieve adequate load factors to generate profits.”

    This is coming as the clearing house for global airlines has criticized the stoppage of airport projects under construction, describing it as an ‘extreme case’.

    He listed Lagos, London, Addis Ababa, Sao Paulo, New York, Frankfurt, Bangkok and Sydney as some of the aerodromes in the world with huge bottlenecks in terms of capacity leading to slow passenger facilitation.

    Ironically, while African airlines are expected to lose $300 million in 2019, other region’ carriers’ in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America are to post $16.6billion; $7.4billion; $10.4 billion; $800 million and $700 million net profits respectively in 2019.

    He urged governments in these countries to help decongest airports adding that it is a shame to waste the investment already made, citing the example of Mexico City where the new Mexican government is backtracking on constructing a critically needed hub airport.

    Speaking on planned airport privatization in Nigeria and other countries, de Juniac lamented that airlines have many bitter disappointments with airport privatization/concession.

    He recalled that IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in June held in Sydney unanimously passed a resolution urging governments to be cautious, stressing that there is lack of transparency in the transaction process and influence from unsolicited proposals, interested private parties or financiers.

    It would be recalled that Nigeria is at the verge of concessioning many of the airports across the country starting with those in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port-Harcourt, with claim by government that it had scarce resources to run the facilities.

    Meanwhile, the government had slowed down on the exercise with many wondering how it intends to drive it and ensure good regulatory framework for the exercise so that it would be a win-win gain for airlines, consumers and other airport users.

    He said : ” There are already many airport concessions across the world but they frequently suffer from a wide range of issues across the concession life cycle.

    “Experience has shown that while these contracts are negotiated between the government and the concessionaire, there is a risk that the interests of these contracting parties can take precedence over those of other stakeholders including airline customers of the airport, the passengers which use the airport and rely on quality services at fair prices, as well as the wider community and the economic benefits the airports supports.

    “We expect there to be many more concession contracts coming as new airport infrastructure is built to support traffic growth needs in various regions especially the Far East so it is very important the improvements are made to the concession setting process”, he added.

    Historically airport concessions he said have suffered from unduly long and arbitrary concession lengths, adding that it can be for the benefit of the government with higher concession fees and longer term returns for the concessionaire.

    He cited example of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris where they are seeing a concession length of 70 years being proposed. Sydney Airport he noted was privatized in 2002 with a long-term lease of 50 years plus a 49 year option for extension.

    Speaking in the same vein, Director, Government and Infrastructure, Delloitte, Dorian Reece in her presentation, “Airport Privation: Focus on concession”, said, “We have seen many examples of very high concession fees; where a large proportion of the gross revenue of the airport is diverted to the government and not necessarily reinvested back into aviation”.

    “This of course puts substantial pressure on charges increases and/or resistance invest in needed infrastructure. The bad practices cannot continue for the overall interest of aviation. A balanced concession is a new approach that defines new ways of developing and delivering an airport concession based on a wider stakeholder perspective than typically used’, he stated.

     

  • ‘Ground handling services require cooperation to charge right prices’

    Ground handling companies in Nigeria have been charged to ensure maximum cooperation in order to impose the right prices on services rendered airlines.

    This call was made at  the weekend in Lagos by Mr. Basil Agboarumi in his speech during the ‘A Night With Basil, organised by Aviation Media.

    Agboarumi who was the first Public Relations Manager to be elevated as a substantive Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a major aviation company in Nigeria, lamented that ground handlers are not adequate paid for the services rendered airlines.

    He insisted that the ground handling companies cannot operate in isolation of the entire industry and called on the Federal Government to intervene in the charges paid by the airlines.

    He also called on the government to grant the ground handling companies waivers on importation of equipment for operation, noting that if such regime could be granted the airlines, it was also pertinent for handlers to be given same privilege.

    Read Also: SAHCOL manufactures ground support equipment

    “This is the time I think we need cooperation in the industry. The ground handlers need to come together because we can’t be isolated from what is happening in the sector. what happens to an aspect of the industry, affects all since the general duty of us in our various segments of the industry is to see how passengers or goods can move from one point to the other.

    “I am one person that believes strongly that ground handling in Nigeria is under-priced and for us to continue to get the kind of ground handling that we require, especially now that things are getting harder for everyone in terms of procurement of equipment, industry must be ready to take the right step for the right of ground handling that we expected.

    “We have been talking to government and government has been so good to the airlines, but I think it’s high time the government looked at the side of the ground handling companies. We need waivers on procurement of equipment, just as the government has granted the airlines. Government should also look at how it can reduce our burdens.”

    Agboarumi further lauded the leadership of Aviation Media  for putting the event together for him, stressing that contribution of journalists to the development of the sector could not be over-emphasised.

    Also present at the gathering were Mr. Sam Adurogboye and Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, the General Manager Public Affairs of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and General Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), respectively, among several other players in the sector and beyond.

     

  • FAAN engages contractors, banks for improved project financing

    In a bid to encourage improved access to funding of contracts especially for Small and Medium Enterprises, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has hosted contractors and commercial banks to a collaborative forum.

    At an event, held at Radisson Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday December 12, 2018, the Managing Director of the Authority, who was represented by the Director of Engineering, Engr. Nurudeen Daura said  the forum is aimed at developing a financing mechanism which will optimize the cash flow of FAAN

    The forum he said will  also provide  the much needed support to its  contractors, to enable them access opportunities for working capital enhancement.

    Read Also: FAAN boss assures on workers’ promotion

     He said “The  scope involves working with selected financial institutions, in order to provide liquidity to our major contractors through direct and contingent funding”.

     Stating that investment opportunities abound in the industry, especially FAAN, he encouraged the banks and contractors to take advantage of these opportunities through constructive partnership in the overall interest of all.

    Also in attendance at the event were the Authority’s Director of Finance & Accounts, Mrs. Nike Aboderin, Director of Human Resources, Mr Anozie Honorius, representatives of First Bank Plc, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, Tam Tam Nig Ltd, Inland Chips Nig Ltd, Pencks Ltd, amongst others.