Enough Of Security Breaches At Airports

Angry passengers were reported to have grounded the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, last Thursday. They had booked to fly to the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar but were delayed for hours due to, as the airline later explained, the movement of VIPs and bad weather. By the time the aircraft was cleared to fly, it was well behind schedule, and, by the time it  reached Calabar, the station manager had closed the airport. There was no lighting at the airport and the aircraft had to return to Abuja.

It is unfortunate that the nation has witnessed another awful embarrassment -- another security breach at one of its leading international airports. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has expressed its displeasure over the incident, but, according to the spokespersons of the airline, Arik Air, concerted efforts were made to pacify the passengers: they were offered flight seats to Uyo but a number of them refused while about  45 passengers accepted the offer. The NCAA, citing the Consumer Bill of Rights, has stated that the passengers are entitled to compensation from the airline for the three hours’ delay. But the matter is more complicated.

Security breaches at our airports are becoming frequent. From airplanes running into cows at the airport tarmacs to adventurers driving onto the tarmacs and into the underbelly of aircraft in addition to stowaways, they are both alarming and embarrassing for the nation. Why, in the first place, did air traffic control in Abuja clear the flight when it knew that the lights at the Calabar airport would have been switched off when the service would arrive at its destination? It is rather curious that instead of the NCAA to investigate and deal with the picketing of the airport, it is already threatening to punish the airline. What signal is this sending to the world about the safety of our airports? We are concerned about the current state of professionalism - if it still exists at all - at the NCAA. The aviation ministry recently stated that it was repositioning its airports to be competitive internationally. We hope the envisaged reform includes the thorny issue of security.

The NCAA should wake up to its responsibility as the agency charged with ensuring that airports are safe and secure. The closure of the Margaret Ekpo Airport for the reason of poor lighting is most indicting. Any international airport or landing facility under the NCAA that endangers the lives of citizens and visitors  alike over such a sickening excuse needs a massive intervention. And this has unfortunately exposed the lie in the so-called renovation and repositioning for competition and development.
Editorial by Leadership Newspapers

NCAA licenses 26 airlines for flight operations

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has released a list of licensed scheduled commercial and charter airlines in its registry as parts of measures to clamp down on illegal charter airline operations in the country.

In the list released through a public notice on Sunday, the NCAA said only 26 operators had been cleared “to carry passengers and cargo for a commercial fee.”

The approved airlines include: Aero Contractors Nigeria, Allied Air, Arik Air, Associated Aviation, Atlantic Aviation, Bristow Helicopters, Caverton Helicopters, Chanchangi Airlines and Dana Airlines.

Others are Dornier Aviation, FirstNation Airways, Hak Air, IRS Airlines, Jed Air, Kabo Airlines, King Airlines, Max Air and Med-View Airlines.

 Odengene Air Shuttle Service, Overland Airways, Pan African Airlines, Skybird Air, Skyjet Aviation, Skypower Express Airways, Topbrass Aviation and West Link Airways complete the list.

It said the listed companies were the only holders of Air Operators Certificates.

In a footnote to the list, the Director-General, NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, said it had come to the notice of the agency that “several unlicensed operators have engaged in the extremely dangerous practice of providing air transportation without meeting the regulatory requirements and without appropriate insurance coverage.”

Akinkuotu further said, “Some of these illegal operators do not have the requisite maintenance facilities, thus seriously endangering the lives of Nigerians. Worse still, these illegal operators employ mostly foreigners as crew, thereby denying Nigerians employment opportunities in the industry.

“It is criminal to engage in commercial charter services without a valid Air Operators Certificate.”

Meanwhile, the NCAA has said its newly introduced charges for non-scheduled commercial operators have replaced all previous charges such as the landing and parking fees, the en-route navigational charges and the passenger service charge.

In a memo, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondents, the regulatory agency said Nigerian-registered aircraft would pay only $3,000 (N480,000) per flight, while foreign-registered aircraft would pay $4,000 (N640,000) per flight.

The agency, in the memo, also said that private jet owners were exempted from paying the charges.

According to the memo, the charges are based on the tariffs that are being charged by scheduled commercial operators for their services.

“This segment of the air transport industry is one of the key focal areas of the Federal Ministry of Aviation in its ongoing industry transformation efforts and major investments have been and are still being made to provide appropriate infrastructural facilities for their services,” it stated.

The Co-ordinating General Manager, Corporate Communications, Aviation Parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati, however, said the charges were not meant for everybody operating private jets, but for those operating on commercial basis, including foreign-registered and locally registered aircraft.
Culled from Punch

‘Nigeria Fastest Air Travel Market in Africa’

Passengers at the airport

Nigeria has been identified by travel and hospitality experts as the fastest growing air travel market in Africa recording 1.5 million visitors last year.

Experts  told THISDAY  that studies   done on the industry have  indicated that Nigeria’s hospitality industry has overtaken that of South Africa, Mauritius and China.

According to them, while growth in the hospitality and travel industry in Nigeria is phenomenon, the market  in the other countries have been saturated.

And travel expert, Ikechi Uko attributed the growth in Nigeria to the emerging middle class, in spite of the seemingly economic stagnation.

“The middle class is growing at incredible rate and that explains why the economy cabin of many airlines operating into Nigeria record load factor. Those who will tell you that the economy is not growing are those who board business class. They don’t know what is happening at the economy class.”Uko said.

He noted that many new international hotels are extending their operations to Nigeria, especially Lagos and the rates have not come down because of high patronage.

“Lagos is the fourth most visited city in Africa and Nigeria is an environment that rewards efforts and when people travel to new places they see new things and they do business. Nigeria is rated the biggest destination in West Africa,” he said.

Uko said one of the reasons Akwaaba travel market is growing is because more people are eager to come to Nigeria and the market provides face to face marketing, which makes business to be done faster.

“It is believed that it is Nollywood that has changed people’s impression about Nigeria. It inadvertently became a marketing took as the films paint real and idyllic picture of the country,” he said.
An aviation expert, Nick Fadugba has once described Nigeria as the fastest air transport market in Africa, saying that the country should reposition its airlines to benefit from this viable market.

“An important distinction between Nigeria and most other countries in Africa is that Nigerian air traffic is almost inelastic, the high demand will still be there regardless of most crises. In contrast, North African countries depend on foreign tourism for most of their air traffic. In that environment, once there is a political crisis the foreign tourists flee, the aircraft are empty, revenues are down, airline staff laid off and aircraft are parked, it is a catastrophe. Fortunately, Nigerian air traffic is very resilient. Not many foreign tourists come to Nigeria and air traffic is driven primarily by business and Nigerian travellers. Hopefully, more foreign tourists will visit Nigeria in the future but at the moment, if there is crisis in Nigeria, people still tend to fly there for business,” Fadugba said.

culled from Thisday

Arik Leads Independence Day Golf Party

Arik Air

International airline operator, Arik is at the head of sponsors that will participate in the annual Independence Day Golf Tournament at IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja. A strong field of 250 golfers will feature in the final stage of the tournament on October 1.

Arik’s Corporate Strategy Associate Dr Nnamdi Bolu announced at a media briefing yesterday, that the main overall prize of a free business class flight ticket on a chosen international route, will be presented to the winner. Other category winners will be rewarded with a free business class flight ticket on the regional and local routes.

Bolu described the sponsorship initiative as a window by the company to use golf to service its highly valued customers who play the ancient game.

The highpoint of the Independence Day tournament is an international matchplay between Achimota Golf Club of Ghana and IBB Club of Abuja.

The Ghanaians, who lost on their visit to Nigeria last year, will arrive Abuja today with a delegation of 35 players and will be treated to a cocktail after a practice round at IBB course. The friendly matches which begin on Saturday will end on Sunday.

The Vice Captain of IBB International Golf and Country Club and the Chairman of the tournament organizing committee, Hon Tam Brisibe, told reporters that the essence of the tournament was to celebrate Nigeria’s unity.

The Independence Day week activities started this week with the tournaments for the IBB course workers early in the week in addition to the one for the resident professionals on Wednesday.
The activities,  which also feature tennis, will climax on October 1 with the main Independence Day tournament. It will follow the stableford playing format with the field adopting the shortgun format to quicken the pace of play.

Culled from Thisday

ICAO Presidency: Oduah Solicits Support for Nigeria’s Candidate

 Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah

The Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, has solicited the support of members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in voting for Mr. Olumuyiwa Aliu, a Nigerian, as a replacement for the outgoing president of the body, Mr. Roberto Kobeh González.

The election into council, which is the highest ruling organ of ICAO, is due to be conducted at the end of the 38th annual general meeting (AGM), currently holding in Canada.

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the minister, Mr. Joe Obi, quoted Oduah as saying: “In the same vein, Nigeria wishes to use this opportunity to solicit the support of ICAO member States for her re-election into Part 2 of the ICAO council.

“In addition, Nigeria also humbly requests your support for the election and re-election of those African states that have been endorsed by AFCAC to the ICAO council.”

While expressing confidence in Aliu’s candidature, she said: “Nigeria is also delighted to refer to the candidature of Aliu for the post of the president of the ICAO council in the next council election.
"I wish to thank the African states for the endorsement of his candidature by the African Union (AU). We solicit and thank ICAO member states for their support of his candidature.”

The minister stated that Nigeria remained committed to ICAO initiatives and collaborative efforts in achieving safety, security and environmentally friendly air transportation, adding that this had been demonstrated through the hosting and continuous support of our Regional Safety Oversight Organisation, the Banjul Accord Group Aviation Safety Oversight Organisation (BAGASOO), which recently held in Abuja.

The recent ICAO high level conferences on air navigation, air transport and aviation security, according to her, had made far reaching recommendations, stating that Nigeria supported the endorsement by the assembly of the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) as well as recommended Civil Aviation Security Strategies.

Nigeria also believes that there is need to streamline ICAO policies regarding the protection of consumer interests.

She said: “I wish to reassure you that Nigeria is determined to continue to champion the advancement of civil aviation in the African region through collaborative efforts amongst member states. Nigeria also wishes to express her commitment and continuous support for the comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa (AFI Plan).”

Oduah commended African states and the African Civil Aviation Commission for their renewed and vigorous dedication towards the attainment of safety of the African skies and the development of air transportation on the continent.

She said: “Nigeria under the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan, embarked on the transformation of its aviation industry focusing on the rehabilitation, upgrade and development of aviation infrastructure; improving aviation safety and security; creating enabling environment for growth of airlines and other service providers as well as protecting the interest of aviation end-users.

“I am very delighted to inform you that the transformation agenda is yielding positive results. This coupled with the liberalisation policy of the government, has led to significant increase in the operations of foreign and domestic airlines and utilisation of our airports, resulting in an annual traffic growth of over ten per cent in the last three years.”

culled from Thisday

£3,000 Bond Fee Not Yet a Policy, Says UK Envoy

British High Commission to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock

The British High Commission to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, Wednesday said the proposed £3,000 tourist bond would not be a threat to Nigerians going to the United Kingdom (UK), even as he said the British government had not taken any final decision on the proposal.

Pocock spoke on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos, during a visit to the management of the exchange.

The British envoy, who rang the bell to bring the day’s trading on the Nigerian bourse to a close, also declared that the £3,000 was not a visa fee and should not be considered to be a visa charge that was being imposed on Nigerians.

Britain had last June announced  the £3,000 cash bond in return for visitor visas, which would affect six commonwealth countries that were considered “high risk” tourists to the UK.

Apart from Nigeria, other countries are: Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The policy, however, had been condemned, in very strong terms, by governments of the affected countries, especially Nigeria and India.
There have been indications that the proposal would be implemented as from November.

However, speaking on the development, Pocock said the proposal had not become a policy and it was not a visa charge.

“It is not a visa charge. No Nigerian will be required to pay £3,000 for visa. Secondly, it  is not a policy yet because it has not been decided. And even if it is decided, it will apply to only tiny fraction of the 150,000 Nigerians that apply for visa every year. This means that the effect will be minimal,” he said.

The British envoy added that  if his government decides  that the proposal would become a policy, the Nigerian government and its people would have the necessary information in that regard.

“If we decide that it will become a policy, everybody will have all the information. The proposal will not be a  major threat to Nigerians coming to the UK. That I can guarantee,” Pocock said.

In the proposal, some visitors from the six countries would be asked to pay a £3,000 cash bond in return for visitor visas that allows them to stay in the UK for up to six months.

The six countries are said to have accounted for more than half a million UK visa applications last year.

Nigeria, through the immediate past Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, had expressed displeasure over the policy, which he described as discriminatory.
Ashiru had told Pocock that the move would “definitely negate” the two country’s commitment to double trade by 2014.

Culled from Thisday

Arik Air, IATA sign agreement

Arik Air and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have signed a Weblink agreement that 

allows accredited travel agents direct sales into the Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) system.

The agreement was signed by Arik Air Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue and the Director-General of 

IATA, Mr Tony Tyler at the IATA Aviation Day Africa conference in Lagos. 

culled from The Nation

Arik Air partners IBB Golf Club for Independence Cup

Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest commercial airline is partnering IBB International Golf and 

Country, Abuja in staging the 2013 Independence Day golf and Nigeria Vs Ghana International golf match 

play to mark Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary.

Arik is the lead sponsor for the two tournaments which are the most prestigious held at the IBB International 

Golf and Country Club Abuja. The annual Nigeria Vs Ghana international golf match play will be held at the 

Club on September 28 and 29 while the Independence Cup will be staged on October 1.

Arik Air Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue said the airline has been a great supporter of Nigerian sports 

and that the sponsorship of the golf tourney is the airline’s little way of identifying with a group of people 

whose patronage has been a great boost to the business.

“As a socially responsible airline, we strive to impact positively on our operating environment through 

sponsorship of events such as the Independence Cup,” Ndulue stressed.

Arik Air thanked the Management of IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja for giving the airline 

the opportunity to sponsor this year’s Independence Cup and thus identify with its valued guests.

Culled from Vanguard

Nigerian Passenger Dies in US-bound United Airlines Flight from Lagos

 


Houston police are awaiting autopsy results on a Nigerian man, who died at about 8:25 a.m. Tuesday on a US-bound flight out of Lagos.

The male, Benedict Sylvester Igwedike, 67, of Lagos, Nigeria, died on board a United Airlines flight.

According to HPD Homicide Division Senior Police Officer, M. Miller, patrol officers responded to a deceased male who was on board the United Airlines flight #143 arriving from Lagos, Nigeria.

Miller said: "Further investigation determined Mr. Igwedike passed away shortly after the flight departed from Nigeria.

"The flight was then rerouted to Dakar, Senegal. After refuelling, authorities in Senegal rerouted the flight to Houston."


The investigation is pending Igwedike's cause of death says Miller.

Late last month, a woman traveling to Houston from Qatar to seek medical treatment died en route.

 Fatimah M. Alsiari, 49, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, died a few hours into the nonstop flight from Doha,

Qatar, said Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva.

A physician on Qatar Airways Flight QR077 tended to the woman but could not save her, Silva had said.
Source: www.chron.com

DRUGS FOUND ON A PARIS BOUND AIRFRANCE FLIGHT

Three Britons have been arrested over the smuggling of 1.3 tons of cocaine in the luggage of an Air France

flight.

French police found the drugs on a flight from Venezuela's capital Caracas to Charles de Gaulle airport in

Paris.

The cocaine, said to have a street value of some £175m (€200m), was found packed into 30 suitcases

carried on a flight that left Venezuela on September 10.

The huge find was only made public on Sunday.

The UK's Foreign Office has confirmed that three unnamed Britons are being held in France.

Some of the drugs were destined for Britain

They are among a total of nine suspects detained so far. Three Italians and three Venezuelan police officers

are also in custody, according to Venezuelan prosecutors.

British police from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) have been involved in the investigation

along

with officers from Spain and Holland.

A source from Soca told Sky News that some of the drug haul was expected to have ended up on British

streets. Soca said the operation is not being linked to recent high-profile smuggling arrests involving Britons.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said it was the biggest find of its type in metropolitan France.

French police commander Mohamed Douhane said: "Such a seizure, in such circumstances, is quite simply

exceptional."
None of the suitcases were apparently registered to any passengers. It is not clear how the stash would have

been collected.

Air France said it was still trying to find out how the drugs made it onto the plane.

The airline said "immediate" steps were being taken to improve checks on baggage from "certain sensitive

destinations".

Last year, Venezuelan security forces working with Colombian authorities and US and British intelligence

agencies caught one of the most-wanted Colombian kingpins - Daniel "Crazy" Barrera - during an operation

in a Venezuelan border city.
Source: Skynews

IATA seeks emissions deal to avoid trade war

IATA logo
| credits: goodlogo.com

Airlines urged the International Civil Aviation Organisation to back a mandatory global framework to curb 

airline emissions, saying failure to reach a deal would revive threats of a trade war.

IATA, which represents about 200 airlines, said the ICAO could agree on a new system when its 191 states 

begin their assembly in Montreal this week.

Reuters reported that the ICAO, which sets standards for air travel, is under pressure to make headway 

 toward resolving one of the worst aviation disputes in years, pitting the European Union against its trade 

rivals. The ICAO meets in full once every three years.

Greenhouse gas emissions from commercial flights are growing at a steep rate. The EU in 2011 came up with regulations to charge airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe over EU airspace.

But it has suspended the scheme to allow opponents led by China and the United States to agree on a 

global plan to curb aviation emissions under UN auspices. The EU has threatened to re-impose the scheme if there is no deal.

“If the assembly agrees what could be done from 2020, and what should be done in the meantime, I believe 

governments will work toward implementing that,” IATA director general Tony Tyler told reporters on 

Monday.

Culled from Punch

Breach Of Contract: Court Strikes Out Suit Against Arik Air

inShare0

A High Court of Rivers State has struck out a suit filed against Arik Air Limited by Mr. Peter Ekekwe over 

alleged breach of contract for lack of jurisdiction.

Ekekwe had on April 17, 2009 sued Arik Air for alleged negligence in handling of his luggage on October

2008 at the Port Harcourt International Airport and demanded N10.291million damage.

But in his ruling over the matter, Justice SikaApriokustruck out the suit on the grounds that thecourt lacked

the jurisdiction to hear the plaintiff’s case of negligence over  handling of his luggage  as  only the  Federal

 High Court and not the state court could  try aviation or aviation related matters.

The judge further held that where the court has no jurisdiction and no enabling provision in the law setting up

that court to transfer the case to a court that has jurisdiction, the suit should be struck out.

 According to the judge, there is no enabling provision in the Rivers State High Court Law, upon which the

court is empowered to remit the case file to the chief judge to transfer the suit to the Federal High Court.

The judge said,”Having held that I have no jurisdiction, I cannot proceed to resolve the substantive issues.

Therefore, I have no alternative than to strike out this suit and the suit is hereby struck out. There is no order

as to costs”.

The plaintiff had through his lawyer ,Mr. George Ukaegbu, claimed that he boarded the defendant’s flights

from Port Harcourt to Abuja on October 7, 2008 to attend a meeting with his business associates only to

find out that the airline  could not produce his luggage, which he had checked in at the time of boarding.

 He also claimed  that when the defendant could not explain the whereabouts of his luggage, he left the

airport without collecting his luggage and was compelled to shop for new clothing, toiletries and other

essentials to enable him stay in Abuja for the three days meeting.

But the lawyer to Arik Air, Mr.  Adebayo Gbajumo had in his client’s preliminary objection, questioned the

court’s jurisdiction to hear the suit as formulated by the plaintiff and urged the court to determine whether the

suit was not statue -barred and contrary to the Civil Aviation Act.

  He therefore urged the court to dismiss the suit for not disclosing any reasonable cause of action and not

showing sufficient fact that the airline is liable to the claims before the court.

Gbajumo further claimed  that the jurisdiction of the court is determined by the plaintiff’s claims as endorsed

in the Writ of summons and statement of claims, saying the suit as constituted was an aviation matter and that

the law is settled that it is only the Federal High Court that has the jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other

court in civil cases and matters relating to aviation.
 
He submitted further that in the instant case, since the cause of action is founded on carriage of goods and

passengers, it is only the Federal High Court that can entertain the suit, which is a civil case that pertains to

carriage of passengers and goods.

 In urging the court to dismiss the suit because the plaintiff approached the wrong court by misconceiving 

that the cause of action is founded on a mere contract that was breached, Gbajumo argued that by the 

provisions of section 48(2) of Civil Action Act, 2006, as provided for under Article 22(2) of the Third 

Schedule, the liability of the defendant for loss or destruction or delay of luggage does not exceed $1000 or 

its equivalent in a local currency.

 He further submitted that from the totality of the evidence adduced at the trial, the plaintiff did not make out 

a case of special damages as to be entitled to the award of any sum and that in respect of the expenses 

allegedly incurred between October 7 and 10, there are obvious contradictions in the receipts and that the 

receipts are not sufficient proof form the plaintiff’s claims for refund from the defendants.

But in his reply, Ukaegbu contended that section 63 of the `civil Aviation Act, 2006 is not applicable in the 

case as the suit was a civil matter and not a criminal offence as envisages under section 63 of the Act.

 He also contended that since the Civil Aviation Authority is not a party in the suit as envisaged by the Act, 

the suit is therefore not within the purview of section 63, which has the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal 

High Court.

Culled from Leadership

Dati: Illegal Private Jet Operators are Sabotaging Nigeria’s Economy

The Coordinating General Manager, Corporate Communications of Aviation Agencies, Mr. Yakubu Dati, has said Nigeria loses over N10 billion annually to private jet operators that engage in illegal charter services, especially with foreign-registered aircraft.

Dati also alleged that many of the private jet owners give them out for illegal charter services while they are still documented as privately-owned aircraft for personal use on the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) records.

He said by doing that these illegal operators rip off the country of well-deserved revenue and also deny businesses to legally registered commercial charter operators that abide by the regulations as enunciated by NCAA.

Dati was reacting to criticism in response to a recent circular issued by NCAA which directed non-scheduled aircraft services to pay certain fees at take-off, stating that foreign registered aircraft should pay $4,000 (N640,000) for every take off, except round trips; while locally registered aircraft shall pay $3,000 (N480,000); a directive that many operators described as stringent and impracticable.

Dati explained that it was to stop the exploitation of the country and also to grow the business of registered charter operators that NCAA slammed the fees to check the excesses of operators who use their aircraft to carry out illegal services, disclosing that Nigerians who own foreign registered private jets siphon over N10 billion annually from the country to pay foreign cockpit crew, charges and taxes overseas.

These operators, he said, also abstain from paying import duties, five per cent VAT charges and also five per cent charges to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

He said the total amount of money that Nigeria loses to these operators is estimated to be over N15 billion annually, not including charges paid by aircraft used for charter services, which most of them illegally deploy the aircraft when in use in the country.

He said out of 139 private jets operating in Nigeria, 87 are registered overseas while 52 are registered locally and further explained that when aircraft is registered overseas it is assumed that it is visiting Nigeria as it usually registered under a foreign operator and the implication of this is that it will not pay import duty when coming into Nigeria.

“The aircraft pilots and engineers must be foreigners whose licences are registered in that country the aircraft is registered and this means that no Nigerian is operating any of these 87 aircraft as pilot; no Nigerian engineer can be employed to maintain the aircraft. Then every year the owner of the aircraft must pay charges to continue to maintain the aircraft under the foreign operator in which the aircraft was registered,” Dati also explained.

But airline operators said the new regulation is sweeping and does not categorise the illegal and legal operators, saying that the new circular was obnoxious and unrealistic, adding that it is despotic if NCAA arbitrarily make laws without involving the operators and other stakeholders. They also insisted that there must be checks and balances to avoid the abuse of the system, even by the regulatory authority.

“Is the payment meant for navigational charges or safety oversight or for what? We pay N5,000 for safety oversight. We are strongly objecting to this directive because all charges must be either aeronautical charges or for safety oversight, which is five per cent of the cost of charter service. So why put blanket punitive measures on everybody?” an operator queried.

Dati, defending the new directive, calculated that the average cost of every charter is $7,000 per hour and conservatively every aircraft operates three hours charter per day and when multiplied with 69 aircraft, which is the estimated number of foreign registered aircraft that operate illegal charter, it amounts to 207 hours per day.

“So these aircraft earn $1,449,000 million per day and the five per cent VAT tax and five per cent NCAA charges which they do not pay, if deducted from the above earning would amount to $144, 900 per day. In a year this would amount to $51, 584, 400 or N8. 2 billion and this is a fragment of the import duties which is estimated to be in billions of dollars which these aircraft owners did not pay before they were brought into the country, he added.

But operators said that NCAA is incompetent, remarking that it explained why the agency could not make laws that would specifically punish those who infringe on the regulations guiding air operations in the country; rather, it introduced obnoxious regulation that is sweeping and impracticable.

culled from Thisday

Airport conveyor belt kills baby

A baby has died after he was trapped in the baggage collection conveyor belt at a Spanish airport following a flight from Gatwick.

The child’s American mother flew into Alicante-Elche Airport at 11pm on Wednesday with the five-month-old and other  young child on an easyJet flight from London, sources at the airport said.

She placed the child inside a baby carrier on a stopped heavy baggage collection belt – which police believe may have been activated by the weight.

A Guardia Civil spokesman said, “We are still in the early stages of the investigation and looking at CCTV footage, but it seems that it was an accident.

“The mother left the baby on the conveyor belt, which can be activated by detecting weight or by an airport employee.

“It seems that the baby carrier’s weight activated the belt and the child was trapped in the rollers in the drop zone.”

Her Canadian husband was waiting for the family in the arrivals zone when the incident happened at around 11.30pm.

The family were reportedly in Spain for a holiday in the nearby resort town of Denia on eastern Spain’s Costa Blanca.

Guardia Civil officers on duty at the airport alerted emergency services, Skynews reports.

Despite attempts to resuscitate the baby, he was pronounced dead by the airport’s on call doctor at the scene.

A post-mortem examination is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday.

Source: Skynews

Sanusi: Direct Flights to Brazil Will Open New Opportunities

Deputy Managing Director of Arik Air and Head of Flight Operations of the airline, Ado Sanusi, said Nigerian airlines need government backing to grow. He also said direct flight between Nigeria and Brazil will open new market for the country, among other issues. 

He spoke to Chinedu Eze. Excerpts:

Lucrative Brazil-Nigeria Route
First, you look at the historic cultural ties between the two countries, you will see that an air link between the countries is a must because Brazil as an emerging market with a very strong GDP. And Nigeria is an emerging market too, so there is need to connect these two countries economically. If you look at the market now, how people from Brazil travel to Nigeria, you will see that there is traffic, but they have to go through South Africa or Europe and that takes so much of their time. So now if we are making a direct travel link which is about six hours, it is going to cut their travel time by half. It is a good market and I believe that we will not have any issue with traffic at all.

FG Back-up
Apart from the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) that was signed between Nigeria and Brazil, there is no other help from government. We are the nominated airline to fly the Lagos or Nigeria to Brazil route and we have that already from the BASA agreement. The BASA was signed almost two years ago

Other Support
Naturally what happens is that the home government will also put pressure diplomatically on the government of the country where we are going, that is, Brazil to make sure that we have the same treatment that Gol Airline was given here by removing the problem of having slots, removing the problem of obtaining the flight operations permit (FOP) to make it very easy for us to go into that country. Gol Airline from Brazil has already gotten a landing right from the Nigerian government.
Naturally, what they do is that they don’t give the other country everything until we also have everything. But indications show that Gol Airline has got everything from Nigeria and we have not gotten yet what they have. They have the landing rights, and they said as far as regulation is concerned they have gotten all the rights to fly into Nigeria. We have filed in our papers about four months ago to the authorities of Brazil and we are still waiting to hear from them.

Nigerian Embassy in Brazil
The Nigerian Embassy has been very helpful to us. They were the ones that helped us to translate our documents and to find the right personnel to represent us with the ANAC; that is the Brazilian Aviation Authority. They are also the ones helping us to push to ensure that we get the FOP as quickly as possible.

Cities of Operation
The initial city we are looking at is Sao Paulo. But it might change because our business plan is always undergoing review. It might change, we might go to Recife, and we might go to Rio de Janeiro. But the initial one we have chosen now is to go to Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo is the biggest city in the Southern hemisphere, and the airport is very busy, so you need a slot to go into that airport, especially if you are going to land there and also make sure that your passengers have connecting flights so you must have a particular time to land to enable your passengers connect easily with other flights so that they can get to other countries or cities.

Appeal to the Govt
We are still waiting to see what the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authorities will reply us. We don’t anticipate any problem but if we do, we will have to go back to the government and let them know that they must think of revisiting their own approval for Gol Airline if there is any problem.

Market Potential
I told Gol, which is the airline that would be flying into Nigeria, that the market is not that huge, so we have to guard it and make sure that it is not diluted. I don’t think 14 frequencies a week will be profitable at the beginning. I feel that seven frequencies a week would be ideal.

Agreement on Frequency
Yes we discussed that and we are going to look at the market. You know in everything you do, you have to test the waters first, if we test it and see that the demand is there we will increase the frequency.

Partnership with Brazilian Airlines
We don’t intend to have only point to point flying to Brazil, that is flying to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. We intend to offer our passengers the ability to fly all over South America. What we will do is to try and see the best network as offered to us either by TAM or by Gol, then we will have interlining agreement or code sharing and have a good partnership and they are very willing.

Flight Services to Brazil
We plan to start before the end of this year. And as you know, everything depends on the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority. If they give us the approval to start, we will look at their conditions and then based on that we make the decisions when to start but definitely we are looking at before the end of the year.

Acquiring New Embraer Aircraft
We have been in discussions with Embraer in the past four months and now it is time to move the discussions further. That was why we went there to take a look at all options of purchasing executive jets. We plan to have between 10 to 15 Executive Jet (E-Jet) planes to be delivered over a period of time. We met with the CEO of Embraer, we met with their Chief Financial Officer and also with the Brazilian Export-Import Bank that is BNDES and the initial meetings that we have done are very successful and we are happy about the outcome. It looks promising and Embraer has very good products that will fit well in the Nigerian market. Those were some of the discussions we had.

Brazilian Export Bank
First of all we tell the Brazilian Export Bank our success story since we started seven years ago. We give them our story and give them our financials by the time they go through it they always know that this is a genuine case and a good business strategy; they will be very interested in investing in Arik. That is also what happened with the import export bank of Brazil. We gave them our story, showed them our financials and also showed them how we intend to use those airplanes. We showed them the routes and the study we have done on those routes over a period of time. We showed them how we will start from the losses to breaking even and how we are going to go from merely breaking even to making profit. We also showed them how will repay the loan over a period of time. So it was the good presentations that we make to these organisations internationally.

Unfortunately, with banks in Nigeria it is sometimes difficult to sell our story because banks and other financial institutions find it rather difficult to buy what we are selling them and with interest rates very high it is difficult to secure those kinds of facilities and you cannot make good business with interest that are double digits. So the moment we do that outside the country and they access our financials they agree it is a good plan and often give us the facilities.

Cost Analysis of Leasing
It is actually cheaper to operate new airplanes over time. What Arik has done is to do a study to determine whether to make an initial investment of say, $2-3 million that will just serve me for maybe three years or maybe four years and with lots of maintenance problems or do I make an initial investment of $30-40 million that can serve over a period of time 10-15 years and with less maintenance problems and it is actually safe. If you look at a lot of international airlines, they do that so that they can have less maintenance cost, they are more efficient, and more so they are safe and comfortable for passengers.

Using Old Aircraft
Let me give you a scenario. If you are starting an airline, you intend to have that airline run for up to 30 or 40 years or for a very long time. So why would you invest your money to start an airlines with airplanes that are 18 or 21 years old? While you are very sure that your company will last more than those years. At least what you should do is have a business plan that will start with new airplanes which you can use for at least 15 years before changing them and go ahead and use new ones. But if you start with old airplanes let’s say about 20 years old and after five years, which is the first gestation period for an airline, the airplanes are already 25 years old and you already thinking of changing them. That is too early in the lifespan of an airline to start making fleet changes. Usually, airlines should consider change of airplanes or fleet renewal after 10 to 15 years of operation. So if you are looking at that it is not economical for any airline that is starting to start with old airplanes. It doesn’t make economic sense.

Growing Nigerian Aviation Market
The market can be grown in different ways. You can make the passengers experience to be seamless from the time he is buying the ticket to the time he is going into the terminal building to the time he is getting his bags and leaving the airport. If we make this memorable experience for him, an experience that is really enjoyable, he will like to come back and also talk to other people to come.
We have a population of over 160 million people, if we can target about 10 per cent of that number to fly locally, that means we have 16 million people per year. We have the capacity.

Also fuel prices are very high. Government can make the environment less harsh for the airline operators. They can look at the airline industry as an infant industry, then support it and nourish it so that it can grow and taxation can be removed, VAT be removed, it is only aviation sector that is still paying VAT in the transportation industry. A lot of things can be done to help the airlines grow because the sector is still in its infant stage. We don’t have any airline that is more than 50-60 years.

If the federal government can provide the enabling environment to grow, it will also bring about growth in passenger traffic, and you would have growth in the economy. Then after the airlines have grown, they can introduce the taxes. What we seeing now is that the airlines are having a very hard time because the environment is very harsh and they find it hard to grow.

Source: Thisday