Emirates adds new route to Mali capital Bamako

Emirates will start flights to Bamako, the capital of Mali, from October 25 – its 28th destination in Africa.

 Bamako will be linked to Emirates’ current four times a week service to Dakar, Senegal, by an Airbus A340-300 in a three-class configuration.

“Mali has a growing economy and huge tourism potential, and we expect that linking Bamako to our Dakar service will greatly boost both business and leisure travel to and from Mali,” said Adil Al Ghaith, the senior vice president at Emirates.

Bamako has a population of about 2,3 million people, and is located in the south western part of Mali on the Niger River. Mali has four Unesco world heritage sites: the city of Timbuktu, the Old Towns of Djenne, the Tomb of Askia and the Cliff of Bandiagara.
Emirates said last year that it expected to add at least 10 new routes in Africa by 2025.

 In October it reached a deal with the Angolan government to manage the national carrier, TAAG Linhas Aéreas De Angola, while in August, Emirates signed a partnership with Nigeria’s Arik Air, penning up new routes throughout western Africa for the carrier.

 The Dubai carrier recently announced a new route to Bologna, which will start from November 3, Multan in Pakistan, which begins from August 1, and Mashhad in Iran from September 1.

 

Source: www.thenational.ae

 

Delta Air Frequent Fliers to pay more for upgrades

Getting a free flight or better seat on Delta Air Lines will cost program members more Sky Miles starting next year.
Last week, the carrier announced a major change to its frequent flier program, becoming the first of the big three U.S. carriers to adopt a “supply and demand” program over its current fixed miles system for upgrades and free flights, reports Skift. This means more popular routes may require more mileage points than shorter flights along less traveled flights.
JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America already operate under a supply and demand award program.
"The number of miles needed (for a free flight) will change based on destination, demand and other considerations,” according to Delta, who confirmed that the changes will go into effect June 1, 2016.
Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta, told NBC that “most award prices will stay the same, with a greater availability of awards at the lowest prices and new 7,500 and 10,000 mile one-way awards. Members can take advantage of lower prices immediately, while other price changes won't take affect for travel more than 10 months from now."
Included in the changes is a new “upgrade with miles” option that will be available for customers only at the time of booking travel.
Travel experts have already expressed concern that Delta’s lack of transparency when determining award flight value may hurt consumers in the long term.
"They [Delta] say some prices will be going up and others will stay the same, and this is based on a variety of factors," Gary Leff of the View from the Wing blog told NBC. "(But) they will not share which prices for what trips will go up, and which ones will stay the same, or how consumers will even know what to expect."
Delta says that no airline today tells you exactly when fares will change or increase in price and that they are giving Sky Miles members plenty of notices to prepare.
Black reiterated to NBC, “The award price for some trips will change based on a variety of factors; just like they do today for revenue tickets."
Source:www.foxnews.com

British Airways steward dies after catching malaria following flight to Ghana

 
 

A British Airways stewardess has died after catching malaria while working on a long-haul flight from Heathrow to the Ghanaian capital of Accra.

The unnamed woman is understood to have been staying at a hotel in Accra when she began showing symptoms of the deadly disease.

Spread by mosquitoes, the parasite attacks the liver and red blood cells and can be fatal if it is not treated quickly. Symptoms include a fever, sweats and chills, a headache, vomiting, muscle pains and diarrhoea. The signs begin showing between seven and 18 days after a person is infected.

Most fatalities in the UK are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum species of the parasite, which is predominant in sub-Saharan Africa.

The airline has launched an internal investigation into how the woman caught the disease, The Mirror reported.

BA told The Independent: "We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of our colleague. Our thoughts are with her friends and family at this difficult time."

She added that all BA staff are given “top strength repellent”, access to anti-malarial tablets and medical advice before flying to at-risk countries.

The firm also checks hotels and transportation to minimise the chance of contact with mosquitoes, she added.

British Airways employees around 40,000 people, most of whom work in the UK, and flies around 35million passengers around the world each year.

The incident comes six years after a BA steward died after catching the most deadly strain of malaria after also working on a flight from Heathrow to Ghana.

Source:www.independent.co.uk

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Virgin Atlantic to Cut 500 Support, Managerial Jobs



Virgin Atlantic CEO Craig Kreeger, center; Wayne County Airport Authority CEO Thomas Naughton, left; and Sir Richard Branson, founder and president of Virgin Atlantic Airways, at a news conference on June 11 about the launch of Virgin Atlantic services between Detroit and London.
            Photo: Associated Press       

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. has  said it would cut about 500 support and managerial jobs as the carrier founded by Richard Branson seeks to become more financially resilient. According to a recent report by the Wall Street journal,the jobs cuts are set to be implemented by the end of the year through layoffs, by moving staff, or not filling vacancies, the carrier based in Crawley, southern England said in a statement.

“To truly position Virgin Atlantic for long-term and sustained success, we need to be a more efficient and agile organization that has the ability to invest even more in the areas that make Virgin Atlantic’s customer experience unique,” Chief Executive Craig Kreeger said.

Virgin Atlantic in March said that it made a £14.4 million ($23 million) profit before tax and one-time items in 2014 and ended a three-year period of losses. The carrier had a £51 million loss in 2013 when it set the goal of returning to profit. Virgin Atlantic sales were little changed last year at £2.9 billion.
 source: www.wsj.com

 

  

Aero’s tyre bursts after take-off, 141 on board

Tragedy was on Tuesday afternoon averted in Lagos as an Aero Contractors’ plane made an air return shortly after takeoff from the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA 2). Reason: The plane, with 141 persons on board, suffered a burst tyre.

The incident was confirmed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

A statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs of the NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, disclosed that the aircraft which took off at 3pm from Lagos to Abuja, developed technical problem.

It described the air return as “normal procedure.”

On return to the international wing of the MMIA, some of the passengers were transferred to another Aero aircraft while the others demanded a refund of their fares.

Another group of the passengers rescheduled their flight for Wednesday.

Ndubuoke disclosed that the NCAA would further examine what actually happened during the flight but assured the public of the agency’s commitment to safety and security.

Aero Contractors, in a separate press statement, said that the tyre burst occurred just as the airplane was lifting off.

The company said that the pilot did the right thing by not trying to abort the take-off. He controlled the plane into the air and followed all trained procedures, adding that the pilot brought the plane back to a safe landing.

“At no time during all of these were the passengers lives at any risk,” it added.
Source: dailytimes.com.ng

Domestic Airlines Urge FG To Cut Charges

Domestic airline operators under the aegis of the Airline Operators Association of Nigeria (AOAN) have urged the federal government to review downward charges paid by the airlines in order to reduce their high cost of operation.

The association’s general secretary, Mr Mohammed Joji, told journalists in Abuja that the high operating cost was a threat to aviation industry survival and growth in Nigeria.

According to Joji, airline operators in the country are burdened with multiple charges, which included five per cent ticket sale charge, landing and parking charge, passenger service charge and en-route navigational charge.

“For the operators to survive in the business, there is the need for the government to harmonise some of these charges in the overall interest of the sector. The charges are not good for the industry as a whole and we urge the government to find ways of addressing this issue which has become a major challenge to us,” he said.

He noted that in addition to these charges, airlines are also subjected to paying the Value Added Tax (VAT) to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) which he said is abnormal.

“The issue of multiple charges is a major challenge facing local airline operators because the charges are so numerous and have significantly affected airlines operations,” he lamented.
Source: Leadership.ng
 

Aviation expert disagrees with Joda transition committee’s recommendation

The Federal Government has been advised not to implement some of the recommendations submitted to it recently by the Ahmed Joda Transition Committee on the development of aviation in Nigeria.

The Director, Strategy, Zenith Travels, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo disagreed with the committee on the merging of the debtor airlines to Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, to form a major carrier and its recommendation to the presidency on recapitalisation exercise to indigenous carriers.

Ohunayo told journalists that the submission of the committee on debtor airlines to form a major carrier was wrong, stressing that the debts of most of the airlines were more than their liabilities.

He added that the taking over of Aero Contractors some few years ago by AMCON due to debts had not helped the fortune of the airline, rather, its operations had continue to nosedive.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government through AMCON currently had 60 per cent share in Aero while the Ibru’s family retained 40 per cent, but its fleet had since reduced from 12 at takeover period to about five at the moment.

Ohunayo insisted that the resuscitating medication by AMCON was not working and advised to look inward for other options such as advertising for buyers or shop for turnaround airline experts not unemployed expatriates to help the recovery process before a merger.

He added, “Aan outright merger now will be counterproductive and a subtly subsidy for families who mismanaged their airlines using funds from banks owned by Nigerians.”

On the committee’s recommendation to the government on the under-utilisation of routes, the aviation analyst said this was a good initiative, stressing that the airlines focused much on the trunk routes leaving other domestic routes to a flight or two per day.

He opined that the under-utilised routes could be improved upon if the airport facilities were pulled to extend operational hours, by drastically reducing charges and fees at such airports and by also giving interested airlines some Incentives.

“It’s the joint responsibility of the Federal and State Governments to attract flights to those airports, with the Federal Government taking the lead. If we improve facilities and increase operational hours it will benefit our airlines, passengers and the economy at large,” he said. Ohunayo further condemned the recapitalisation recommendation for the indigenous airlines, describing it as progression in error.

Rather, he suggested that the government could use fleet as the barometer of measurement by moving it from the current minimum of two aircraft to 10 aircraft for domestic and West Coast routes and minimum of 12 aircraft for international routes.
Culled from National Mirror