NIGERIA: Ethiopian Airlines Entertains Journalists In Lagos

Africa’s largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, hosted some Nigerian journalists to a boat cruise in Lagos for supporting the carrier for the 2017 operational year.

The airline said the boat cruise was a way of saying thank you to the journalists who had continued to be a source support to the carrier in the aviation industry.

Speaking during the cruise, General Manager of Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria, Mrs Firihewot Mekonnen said the carrier will continue to deploy its best and newest planes to the Nigerian market.

Mekonnen disclosed that Ethiopian airlines which introduce the newest Boeing 787-900 to the Abuja route will also deploy it to Lagos in the coming days adding that the airline has always considered the Nigerian market as a vital aspect of its business.

She said Ethiopian has high regard for the Nigerian market which informed why the Airline is always bringing her newest aircraft to the country, including the first all-female flight in Africa.

Mekonnen said she is looking forward to African airlines dominating the African skies, instead of foreign airlines adding that, that is one of the reasons the airline is assisting some other African countries in setting up their own national carrier.

She added that the airline is ready to assist other countries with its technical knowhow.

She expressed satisfaction with the figures released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA which showed the Airline as the leading carrier that lifted the highest numbers of passengers in Nigeria in 2017, ahead of other mega carriers.

Mekonnen noted that this is the first time an African airline will be leading in the airlift of passengers in Nigeria, beating other big airlines from Europe, America and Asia.

She said the airline is working hard to consolidate on that feat in their operations in the country.

She stated that she looked forward to the day when African carriers will have a larger percentage of the market share in the continent, noting that 80% of passengers are carried by non African airlines in the continent.

Mekonnen added that Ethiopian Airlines is poised to promote the growth of aviation in Africa so that African carriers can also take the lead in the airlift of passengers in Africa.

The Ethiopia Airline general manager in Nigeria stated that this was responsible for why it is helping to establish national carriers for some African countries.

She assured the journalists that the airlines will do everything in its power to bring the journalists together in order to brainstorm on issues bordering on the industry.



Tourism Observer

NIGERIA: Arik Air Plane In Emergency Landing In Accra, Ghana

A Nigerian plane made an emergency landing in Ghana after smoke was detected in the cabin, officials said Friday, in the latest incident to hit domestic and foreign airline operators.

The aircraft, owned by Arik Air, was travelling from Lagos to Accra on Tuesday when the fault was detected but no-one was hurt, a company statement said.

Arik Air flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra on March 6, 2018 declared an emergency in line with standard operating procedures, when an unknown source of smoke was detected in the cabin, it said.

The incident occurred 130 kilometres from the Ghanaian capital but the plane landed safely in Accra without further incident, it said.

It was the latest in a string of incidents involving the aviation sector over the past month.

On February 7, an emergency exit door fell off a Dana Air jet as it landed in Abuja after flying in from Lagos.

Six days later, an Atlanta-bound Delta airlines jet was forced to return to Lagos after a fire was detected in one of its engines with passengers using emergency slides to evacuate the plane, officials said.

On February 17, an Air Peace plane had to delay landing in the southwestern city of Akure because cows had strayed onto the runway.

Another Dana Air plane overshot the runway at Port Harcourt on February 20 due to heavy rain and flooding.

And on Wednesday, the Nigerian government ordered a complete audit of Dana Air's operations to determine the technical fitness of its fleet.

The airline was grounded after a 2012 crash outside Lagos that killed all 153 on board and six on the ground. Mechanical failure and pilot error were blamed.

Arik Air yesterday explained the smoke incident that happened on it’s flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra,Ghana. A passenger aboard the said flight had on Thursday night accused the airline of not given passengers medical attention after the plane landed in Accra

Explaining what happened, Arik Air Communication Manager, Mr Banji Ola said : Arik Air flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra on March 6, 2018 declared an emergency in line with standard operating procedures, when unknown source of smoke was detected in the cabin 81 miles from Accra.

The captain of the flight briefed the passengers accordingly assuring them that the aircraft was under control and safe for landing in Accra.

The aircraft, a Dash 8 Q400, landed safely in Accra without further incident and all passengers disembarked normally.

The aircraft is currently parked in Acrra and our team of engineers are conducting comprehensive inspections on the aircraft to ascertain the cause of the smoke, after which the aircraft will be flown without passengers to a maintenance facility for rectification and testing.

The relevant aviation authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have been briefed appropriately on the incident, he added.

Arik Air is a Nigerian airline operating mainly from two hubs at Murtala Muhammed International Airport near Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

Arik Air's head office is the Arik Air Aviation Center on the grounds of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja. Arik Air serves a network of regional and mid-haul destinations within Africa.

On 3 April 2006, Arik Air took over the former Nigeria Airways facilities in Lagos, some three years after its liquidation, and began reconstruction work.

On 14 June 2006, Arik took delivery of 2 new Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft to fly domestic routes throughout Nigeria and, within the African continent from Summer 2006, 2 ex-United Airlines Boeing 737–300s and 3 50 seat Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft.

In August 2006, the Federal Ministry of Aviation granted Arik Air authorisation to fly to Trinidad and Tobago and Amsterdam, London and Madrid in Europe.

Furthermore, the airline then planned to fly to Atlanta, Miami, and Houston in the United States and Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

On 30 October 2006, Arik Air began scheduled passenger flights with four flights between Lagos and Abuja using CRJ 900 aircraft.

Flight operations began to Calabar on 15 November 2006 and services to Benin City and Enugu started on 7 January 2007. The airline is wholly owned by Ojemai Investments.

The Nigerian government set a deadline of 30 April 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded in an effort to ensure better services and safety.

The airline satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalisation and was re-registered for operation.

On 4 April 2008, Arik Air was given permission to fly to the United States by the US Department of Transportation.

Arik Air started international operations to London-Heathrow on 15 December 2008, using an Airbus A340-500 aircraft damp-leased from Hi Fly. It added Johannesburg on 1 June 2009, New York JFK on 30 November 2009, and Dubai on 28 July 2014.

Subsidiary airline Arik Niger commenced operations in April 2009, but was shut down in February 2010.

Arik Air transported its 5 millionth passenger on 6 August 2010 and it transported its 10 millionth passenger on 18 September 2012, both on flights between Johannesburg and Lagos.

On 20 September 2012, the airline cancelled all its domestic operations after aviation officials raided the airline's office in Lagos, Nigeria. Flights resumed on 23 September.

Arik Air had placed an order for five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which was cancelled in 2011.

Arik Air then placed an order for two Boeing 747-8I aircraft 2013. However, in early 2017, Arik Air converted the 747-8I orders to two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners instead.

Arik Air had been the last remaining airline customer for the passenger 747-8 who had not yet received any examples, and now the United States Air Force and UPS Airlines are the sole remaining customers.

The conversion of the 747-8 order to Dreamliners came shortly after the airline, owing to major financial stress and most aircraft not being operational.

It was taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) at the start of 2017, deeming the airline as too big to fail.

Since the takeover, all flights leaving Africa, along with flights to O.R. Tambo International Airport, have been gradually suspended.

Simultaneously, KPMG was appointed by AMCON to conduct a forensic audit on Arik Air's books.

Since then, AMCON is gradually in the process of reviving and stabilising the airline and its operations.

Arik Air in the restructuring has suspended all international operations except to Ghana, Senegal, and The Gambia, resulting in the A330 fleet being parked in France.

Arik Air has built up a domestic network covering mainly Nigerian and several other Western African destinations.

The Arik Air fleet includes the following aircraft

- Boeing 737-700 9

- Boeing 737-800 4

- Bombardier CRJ900 4

- Bombardier CRJ1000 1

- Bombardier Q400 2


Tourism Observer

NIGERIA: Dana Air Collides With Bird Mid-Air, Returns To Murtala Muhammed Airport II, Lagos.

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

The aircraft, with registration number 5N-SRI returned after colliding with a bird mid-air.

Kingsley Ezenwa, Communications Manager of the airline, confirmed the incident in a statement.

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

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft that is airborne and as per standard safety procedure which is the hallmark of our operation, our pilot returned to base.

Our guests have however been put on another aircraft to ensure that their itinerary is not entirely disrupted.

The aircraft is currently being evaluated by our engineers to determine the effect of the bird strike on its affected engine,he said.

The manager also assured Dana Air’s customers that the airline would continue to give priority to their safety and comfort.

The General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, told NAN that the air return was a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward occurrence.

Mr. Adurogboye said the pilot acted according to Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs), as such the incidences should not be sensationalised.

The pilot did the right thing by returning to base.

The aircraft had already lost one engine as a result of the bird strike and the standard practice is that the pilot should land at the nearest airport.

Once such incident occurs, it is mandatory for the airline to make a report to the NCAA, he said.

Mr. Adurogboye also restated NCAA’s commitment to the safety and security of Nigeria’s aviation sector.

This is the third incident recorded by the Nigerian aviation sector in the last 72 hours.

An Aero Contractors flight NG316 en-route Lagos, from Port Harcourt, was on Tuesday engulfed in smoke about 20 minutes after take-off, causing panic among the passengers.

Similarly, two aircraft belonging to Air Peace were on Thursday involved in a ground collision at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.

Meanwhile, Less than 48 hours after an Aero Contractor aircraft was engulfed in smoke while trying to land at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, another accident occurred at the airport on Thursday when two aircraft belonging to Air Peace collided while trying to manoeuvre their way around the tarmac of the local terminal.

The Air Peace spokesperson, Chris Iwarah, said that the collision occurred around 6.15 a.m. when its B737 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQR had “partial contact” with another B737 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQP.

Although the points of contact of the two aircraft were only slightly impacted, we took the cautious decision to declare them unserviceable to enable proper investigation of the incident, checks and repair by our Engineering and Maintenance Department in line with our high safety standards, Mr Iwarah said.

There were no passengers on the two aircraft involved in the incident. We have also revised our flight schedule to cater to our esteemed guests on the 14 sectors the two aircraft were scheduled to service today.

The spokesperson of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, denied that the incident was a collision. He said the wings of both aircraft merely grazed each other.

What happened was that one aircraft was packed. The other aircraft was trying to taxi and the wings of the one coming in touched the wings of the one on ground, he said.

If two airplanes collide, they will be on fire. But the two aircraft were both on ground and they have to repair the damage and we have to check them all over again before they can be cleared to return to service, he said.

When asked if Nigerians should be concerned about safety efforts put in place following Thursday’s incident, Mr. Adurogboye dismissed the concern.

He said accidents happen everywhere in the world and that Nigeria is not an exception.

When you use a machine, assuming you drive a car, even the one you packed in the house, when you want to use it there will be an issue with it. Every machine you are using there are bound to be issues. The same thing applies to aircraft.

There is nowhere in the world there are no issues. It is only in Nigerian that we report incidences. There are incidences all over the world. Aircraft drop off in the U.S. every week. So, to say because of three incidents, it should call for concern. We have 500 landings in MMA alone.

Thursday’s incident is similar to an incident in July 2015 when two Airbus 310 aircraft belonging to FirstNation brushed each other’s wings at the airport.

NIGERIA: NCAA Cautions On Severe Thunderstorms, Aero Contractors Investigated

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Wednesday, cautioned pilots, airline operators and Air Traffic Controllers on the danger associated with severe thunderstorms.

A statement signed by Sam Adurogboye, NCAA spokesperson, said the caution is based on the year 2017 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction, SRP, by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet.

These hazards, according to the statement, include severe turbulence, microburst, low level wind shears and other events that could affect flight operations.

The statement noted that rainy season is predicted to commence in March/April and May/June 2017 in the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria, respectively.

“Therefore, this weather alert is necessitated by the fact that rainy season, at onset, is usually accompanied with severe thunderstorms and many other hazardous weather phenomena”, Mr. Adurogboye said.

The series of responsibilities for pilots, operators and air traffic controllers, according to the statement, shows the latter may temporarily close airspace when hazardous weather conditions such as severe thunderstorms, squall lines microburst or low level wind-shear are observed or forecast.

Similarly, flight crews or operators and Athe controllers should ensure adherence to aerodrome weather, while pilots are expected to exercise maximum restraint whenever adverse weather is observed.

Pilots/Flight Crew Members shall obtain adequate departure, en-route and destination weather information and briefing from NiMet Aerodrome Meteorological Offices prior to flight operations, the statement stated.

The NCAA expects strict compliance from pilots and other concerned stakeholders, Mr. Adurogboye added.

NCAA investigates Aero Contractors over aircraft smoke

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has begun investigation into the smoke in an Aero Contractors aircraft enroute Lagos from Port Harcourt.

Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday.

The Aero Contractors flight NG316 was engulfed in smoke about 20 minutes after take-off, causing panic among the passengers.

The situation prompted the deployment of firefighting trucks to the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2, Lagos, to curtail any fire when the plane carrying 52 adults and one infant finally landed.

Mr. Adurogboye said that the NCAA had been notified of the incident, adding that the aircraft was immediately grounded for investigations.

“Our team of investigators are currently working to find out what caused the smoke because that is part of the responsibility of the NCAA,” he said.

Similarly, the media consultant to Aero Contractors, Simon Tumba, confirmed that the airline’s management, led by Ado Sanusi, had ordered for full scale investigation into the incident.

Mr. Tumba, in a statement on Wednesday, said the management also commended the pilot and the entire crew for the professionalism they displayed in handling the situation.

“There have been different accounts of the incidents with some claiming that the smoke came from the baggage compartment while other allude to all manner of unverified claims.

“But the management of Aero said it regrets any inconveniences the incident might have caused its esteemed passengers and assured it will get to the root cause of the matter,” he said.

According to him, preliminary reports has it that at 1645 GMT about 75NM to Lagos at 24,000ft, the cabin crew observed that the cabin was misty.

He said this was reported to the captain, who briefed the passengers accordingly, assuring them of a safe landing in Lagos in a couple of minutes.

“Expectedly as announced by the pilot, normal descent was initiated into Lagos. While descending however, a passenger went into the lavatory, after which the lavatory smoke detector alarm came on.

“The cabin crew again reported this incident to the Captain and by this time the smoke was getting denser in the cabin.

“Ready and armed with “Aft Cargo Smoke” indication in the flight deck, the crew carried out the smoke dispersal procedures and contacted air traffic control at 1655GMT, requesting for emergency support services and proceeded to Lagos, which is the airport with the full complement of emergency support.

“At this stage again, the cabin crew reassured the passengers and handed out wet towels to them as a precautionary measure for such incidents,” Mr. Tumba said.

He said the captain also announced to the passengers to be calm as the smoke in question did not present any irritation or discomfort.

Mr. Tumba said the aircraft landed at 1703 GMT and the company engineers had carried out the routine systems checks, and reported all normal.

He added that the management of the airline reported the incident to the appropriate authorities in the country and another round of thorough investigation was ongoing.

NIGERIA: Crew Member Suspendended For Testing Positive To Marijuana

An aviation crew member has been suspended by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, for testing positive to marijuana.

The crew member, whose identity wasn’t revealed by the agency, tested positive during random alcohol and drug tests on licensed aviation personnel, conducted by the agency.

A statement signed by the General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, said the agency conducted the test in compliance with a directive from the Director-General, Muhtar Usman, after issuing a circular to stakeholders in the industry.

According to the NCAA , 87 personnel from Air Peace , Medview Airline and Air Traffic Controllers of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency were randomly tested as they were about to embark on flight operations and air traffic control duties.

The statement, however, said that out of the 10 pilots and 19 cabin crew from Air Peace Limited, nine pilots and 32 cabin crew members from Med -View Airline, and 10 licensed air traffic controllers and six trainees from the control tower and Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria Centre of NAMA, one crew member tested positive to a psychoactive substance , Tetrahydro-cannabinol, also known as marijuana.

The crew member, NCAA said, was immediately suspended from carrying out further flight operations, adding that further investigations were later carried out to ascertain the quantity of the substance in the urine sample of the crew member.

The crew member violated the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, the statement said.

The offending air crew has been suspended in accordance with the provisions of Part 2 . 11 . 1 . 8 (f) (i) and Part 2 . 11 . 1 . 7 (c ) of Nig . CARs 2015. His medical certificate and licence have been suspended for 180 days from the 5th day of April , 2017, it added.

Accordingly , the respondent shall cease to exercise the privileges of the licence for the period of his suspension.

In addition, the crew member shall within seven days of receipt of the letter of sanction hand over his licence to the authority’ s director of licensing, and shall undergo a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation for psychoactive substance abuse during the suspension period under the care of a consultant psychiatrist.

According to the statement, the NCAA will continue to carry out consistent surveillance on the aviation industry to ensure full compliance with extant regulations, adding that failure will attract adequate sanction.

Meanwhile, the statement said the report of the consultant psychiatrist will be reviewed by its consultant psychiatrist adviser, adding that it would enable it to consider possible restoration of the suspended medical certificate and licence.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has imposed an applicable sanction on Aero Contractors Airlines in line with Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations.

This is in response to the airline’s breach of safety regulations when it used a ladder to disembark passengers at the Bauchi airport on Saturday.

In a letter conveying the sanction, the Director General of the regulatory agency, Capt. Muhtar Usman, said the action of the airline in allowing the use of a ladder to disembark passengers from a Boeing 737-500 aircraft in a non-emergency situation, was contrary to its approved aircraft handling manual.

Therefore this is a violation of Part 9.2.4.2(b) of Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations, which attracts a civil penalty.

All relevant agencies made useful submissions during the course of the investigation, NCAA said in a statement yesterday.

The director general also said in the letter that “in view of the safety implications of your action you are hereby sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of Part 20.2.3(15) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation.

NCAA noted that although the incident did not result in any mishap, the aircraft was airworthy and the crew qualified to operate the flight.

However, it is viewed as a breach and resultantly a fine running into millions of naira has been clamped on the airline to serve as deterrence and to forestall any similar infraction by any other airline operator, the director general said.

In addition, the captain of the flight was fined for failing to comply with the provisions contained in the aircraft manual.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) therefore wishes to reiterate its earlier warning that all airlines should endeavour to adhere strictly to Civil Aviation Regulations, NCAA added.

NIGERIA: Kaduna Airport Ready For Flights, Says Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has announced that the Kaduna International Airport, Kaduna, KIAK, is now fit and ready for a 24-hour operation.

Sam Adurogboye, General Manager Public Affairs of NCAA, said in Lagos on Tuesday that the airport was ready for local and international flights.

Mr. Adurogboye explained that all necessary steps to ensure that the status of the airport as an alternative airport to the Abuja International Airport during the closure had been taken.

The Federal Government had announced the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, effective from midnight of Wednesday to allow for extensive repairs on the runway.

The NCAA official assured all passengers of safety and security in all airports in the country.

“The navigational aids have been well calibrated and fully functional to facilitate continuous smooth landings and takeoffs.

“Therefore, towards seamless flight operations in line with Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) all relevant departments and directorates with full complement of staff have been redeployed to Kaduna.”

Adurogboye said the Regional Managers of NCAA for Abuja and Kaduna offices were on ground to allow for smooth integration of the additional staff coming to Kaduna.

He said to sustain the safety and security of airline operations, a team of Aviation Safety Inspectors, ASI, from the Directorate of Airworthiness Standards, DAWS, had already moved to the airport.

Mr. Adurogboye said the Directorate of Consumer Protection, DCP, Directorate of Air Transport Regulations, DATR, Directorate of Aerodrome and Airspace Standard, DAAS, and Aviation Security Personnel were already at the airport.

The official named other agencies deployed as NCAA, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Customs and Exercise, and Nigerian Immigration Service.

Mr. Adurogboye said that a National Security Committee had been designed and approved for the security programme to cover the airport and its environs during the six weeks closure.

He noted that at the commencement of flights, the Ethiopian Airlines would be the first scheduled airline to arrive the Kaduna airport upon the closure of Abuja airport.

Asaba Airport To Open In March

Flight hitches due to poor or shortened visibility at the Asaba Airport will soon be a thing of the past as the installation of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) of the airport and the entire rejigging of the airport have almost been completed.

Apart from the essential landing system, which enables aircraft to land safely without much interference or poor visibility, works on the airfield lighting system has reached advanced stage.

The inauguration of the remodelled airport, conceived as an international airport handling both passenger and cargo particularly agricultural produce, is expected to take place in March this year.

In April 2015, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) downgraded the Asaba Airport initiated by the administration of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, stripping it of its international status due to observed shortcomings including the high range of hill surrounding the facility’s runway and others like inadequate lighting system and lack of standard perimeter fencing.

Subsequently, the new government of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa awarded contract for upgrading of the airport to an indigenous firm, ULO Consultants, consisting primarily of the lowering of the surrounding hills, the construction of a second runaway, expansion of the taxiway and lighting of the entire airport.

Going on simultaneously with the installation of the ILS and the airfield lighting are the construction of the perimeter fencing and the construction of the airport watchtower, a technical flight control system that complements the control tower.

Giving clarification on the installation of the ILS, Chief Uche L. Okpuno, the Chief Executive Officer of ULO Consultants, in a chat with journalists in Asaba, noted that with the installation of the ILS and the general facility upgrade at the airport having reached advanced stage, the pains of travellers through the Asaba Airport would soon be over.

He expressed confidence that by March this year, the entire project would have been wrapped up for inspection by the country’s aviation authorities with high prospect for positive assessment that would restore the airport’s international status.

Okpuno said: “I believe that in the next eight weeks everything will be completed. The rehabilitation work on the runway and taxiway is projected to end in March. All things being equal, we should be able to finish work by March ending.”

He noted that workers of the contracting firm did not observe the Christmas and New Year holiday as they had to work throughout the period in order to make up for the disruption of the initial completion plan by the heavy rains in 2016.

“Our workers and partners worked throughout the holiday in order to save lost time that the rains did not permit work,” he explained, adding, “Hopefully, we should be able to deliver the airport to the Delta State Government by March.” On the installation of the crucial ILS, Okpuno said the government had from the outset planned to install the equipment but because of the hill

obstacle which the contracting firm has been removing in the past one year, it was not possible to install it as you need a particular clarity for ILS to work.

The company’s chief executive explained: “Now that we have done an extensive work on removing that hill, the ILS has been installed where it was originally designed. Because we fly by sight, there is a limit of visibility required for aircraft to land at Asaba, about 4,000-5000ft but with an ILS in operation, you won’t need that huge visibility. With 800ft, aircraft can land as they are guided with the instrument which allows the pilot to land without him needing to see the runway perfectly.

“When it is foggy in Owerri, it may not be in Asaba or Port Harcourt but because they have existing ILS working they don’t require the visibility that we need. When it is foggy in Port Harcourt, they will just wait for the sun to come out before they have 800, 900ft visibility which is enough for the pilot to land but here in Asaba for a whole day, we may not even have 2,000ft of visibility so planes can’t land. When the ILS is fully installed, we won’t be requiring all that stretch of visibility for planes to land.

“We have a limitation as planes cannot land beyond 6p.m. If we had the airfield lighting as additional, planes can land here at any time of the day and at any time of the night like you have in other international airports. We won’t be limited even when it is foggy.

“We have never had an unprecedented rainy season in Asaba like we had last year. We were there for six months and our workers could not do any meaningful work. If you are doing the kind of work that we are doing at the runway, you needed a stretch of time without rains. If you are doing any serious civil work and it rains, you have to repeat the work and it becomes very time-consuming and unnecessarily expensive. That was why we worked during the yuletide to recover lost time now that the rains are over. Before the next rains starts in April, we should put the airport behind us.

“After this we will hand over the airport for commissioning. We are not only working on the runway and taxi way, the watchtower is nearing completion. The furniture at the concourse are all there and for the first time, the passenger bridges will be used by March. Once the rehabilitation work on the runway is completed, then in no time bigger aircraft can come but because of the reduced threshold (hill elevation) that we did to have the rehabilitation ongoing, they had to restrict the size of aircraft that comes to Asaba Airport but in three months time all that will be history.”

NIGERIA: Airlines in Nigeria Increase Cancellations And DelaysOf Flights

Nigeria‘s aviation authority on Thursday rejected suggestions that some of the country’s airlines were set to close after two carriers suspended flights indefinitely.

Airlines in Nigeria, which is in its first recession for more than 20 years because of the effects of a slump in oil revenues, have experienced fuel shortages in the last few months because the supply of dollars needed to pay for refined oil products has dried up.

The fuel shortages have caused an increase in cancellations and delays to flights across Africa’s most populous nation.

In a statement on its website, airline Aero Contractors carried a statement in which it said all of its scheduled flights were “temporarily suspended” from September 1.

Four years ago, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), a state-backed “bad bank” established in 2009, took on more than 132 billion naira ($663 million) of debts from 12 Nigerian airlines which included Aero.

Another airline, First Nation, also said that it had suspended its flights.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has dismissed sundry claims that some airlines are winding down their operations,” said Muhtar Usman, its director general.

“On the contrary, these airlines are merely suspending their operations temporarily to enable them to undertake certain operational overhaul and strengthen their overall operational outlay,” he added.

He said Aero Contractors only had “one serviceable aircraft”, which contravened the aviation authority’s rules which state that the minimal acceptable number is three planes and meant a suspension was needed until other aircraft arrived.

Usman said First Nation was undergoing an engine replacement programme for one of its aircraft and another of its planes was due for mandatory maintenance.

“In these circumstances these airlines clearly cannot continue to undertake schedule operations, hence the inevitable recourse to self regulatory suspension,” he said.

TANZANIA: Destination Tanzania More Expensive Because Of 18% VAT To Tourists

When tourism stakeholders met with former President Jakaya Kikwete in the beginning of last year, they agreed to identify challenges facing the sector and put it in the lab of Big Results Now (BRN) to analyse and ultimately improve the business environment.

Mr Kikwete was the chairman of the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC).

A committee was formed by the industry players from both public and private sectors and compiled a report with seven pillars of challenges facing tourism - ranging from threat to wildlife, poaching, and dynamite fishing to multiple taxes.

The report was ready at the time democratic choices had put a new government and that way, Mr Kikwete could not receive the report he promised to work on to address the challenges.

When President John Magufuli met representatives of the business community last December, the stakeholders gave him the report, with challenges they wanted addressed, they say.

According to them, they also presented the same report to the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, and he received the presentation well.

When June 8, 2016 came, nothing had been done to address any of neither the identified challenges nor put tourism in the lab of BRN - the Malaysian model of development initiative adopted in the country which aims at adopting new methods of working under specified timeframe for delivery of the step-change required.

On top of that, a new challenge emerged when Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango announced the introduction of the 18 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on tourism services.

Despite all efforts to have the new tax removed, they hit a snag as Parliament endorsed both the Budget and the Finance Bill unchanged in the particular section.

That means, destination Tanzania is becoming more expensive by increasing its cost by 18 per cent to tourists when they enter national parks, game drive and marine cruising among others.

"VAT is not bad but the issue is its timing. We had identified challenges which the government has not yet worked on them and now it comes with the new problem. The sector needs support. What can VAT do for tourism?" says the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) executive secretary, Mr Richard Rugimbana.

As the new tax emerges, the budget for the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) was still low compared to other competitors.

Kenya's marketing budget is about Sh90 billion but that of Tanzania is about Sh5 billion and has been up and down. Yet the countries are seeking visitors from almost the same markets.

Sources from the industry say that TTB will not even participate in the London-based World Travel Marketing (WTM) in November - a global annual event for the travel industry to meet industry professionals and conduct business deals.

Kenya introduced VAT on tourism in 2013 but its implementation, plus security challenges brought about by the terrorist attacks, affected the sector so much that the country scrapped it effective this July.

While the tourism players were contemplating on how to go about the imposed VAT on the sector, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) announced another increment in rates effective July 1, 2016.

The new rates apply to entry fees; motor vehicle permits; annual fee for commercial vehicles; camping fees; aircraft landing fee; crater service fee among others.

That happened ahead of Britain voting to leave the European Union; a move that affected the performance of the sterling pound against the US dollar. Decelerating pound against the US dollar makes it more expensive for Britons to travel including to Tanzania as many of the charges to foreigners are pegged in the dollar.

Tourism is Tanzania's leading foreign exchange earner which generated $2.2 billion in 2015 and the income has been increasing year-after-year.

It employs about 500,000 people although the World Bank said most of the jobs to Tanzanians especially those from communities around tourist sites are low-end.

However, the industry players are now skeptical about the future of Tanzania tourism as it would be affected by abrupt changes and lack of consistent and unpredictable policies. "I think the future of tourism will remain challenged and the government will stand to lose more, not only because of VAT but also due to its abrupt changes on sensitive sectors like tourism," says the chief executive officer of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato).

Most companies will either refund clients or absorb the cost themselves; which means because of unpredictability, the international travel agents will not be able to print their two-year brochures including destination Tanzania in their 'sales' because they can't tell which Budget the changes will happen in between," he says.

Right now TTB has clearly expressed that they are not going for market in World Travel Market 2016, and this is another blow.

Why all these last-minute changes? Not only tour operators in Tanzania but also we operators abroad publish the rates up to 18 months in advance -- so should we continue losing money on bookings or should we shred all marketing materials we printed for expensive money with lower rates in it?

If it gets hard or impossible to make long-term-planning and calculations we need to focus on other more reliable countries," posted Mr David Heidler, Denmark-based tour operator on facebook as he commented on Mr Akko's post.

The impact of the VAT is not only to destination Tanzania but also to the region which seeks to market East Africa as a single destination.

Ms Carmen Nibigira, coordinator of the Nairobi-based East African Tourism Platform (EATP), says regional tourism will be not only about products but also competitiveness and VAT is a huge factor when one wants to measure value for money.

The bottom line is EAC should have one harmonized vat system on tourism services. We cannot talk about harmonisation of our laws and regional integration when we have disparities in our law system and maturity of our product and services, she says.

If we are all serious about promoting East Africa as a competitive destination, policy makers need to understand that as a region our tax regimes need to look at the trends.

When the product and the service industry is being developed and in most cases needing some incentives - imposing taxes is not the best approach," she adds.

Tanzania tour operators now are seeking intervention from the head of state despite the fact that Prof Maghembe has insisted that the new tax is here to stay.

NIGERIA: Airlines Free To Determine Tariffs,Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said all airlines' tariffs for services rendered, which include fares, rates, add-on charges or terms and condition of service, have been fully liberalised.

This was contained in a statement by the General Manager, Public Relations of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The statement explained that this was to clarify reports in some sections of the media that the NCAA had authorised airlines to increase their fares.

According to the statement, air fares and sundry charges have been statutorily deregulated and subjected to market forces.

"However, all air carriers or their agents shall file, with the authority, a tariff for that service showing all rates, fares and add-on charges.

"These include the terms and conditions of free and reduced rate transportation for that service, as specified in Part 18.14.1.1 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs).

"They shall obtain approval from the authority to introduce and or increase add-on charges or surcharges such as fuel, internet booking, insurance, security and similar surcharges, prior to implementation," it said.

The statement said the section also requires all tariffs to be filed at least seven days before the rates come into effect, except in the case of matching an existing rate for which no prior notification was required.

"The NCAA will, therefore, approve the fares accordingly. Prior to the approval, all fares filed with the authority are subjected to Breakeven Analysis and this continues intermittently.

"This analysis is to curb anti-competitive pricing among airlines and to ensure that fares are not too low as to impact on safety arising from inability to carry out requisite maintenance onf their aircraft.

"On the other hand, NCAA will similarly intervene if the fares are too high to avoid overpricing that will deny the teeming passengers access to air transportation," it said.

According to the statement, the NCAA under Part 18.14.1.4, may sanction any airline for failing to apply the fares, rates, charges or terms and conditions of carriage set out in the tariff that applies to that service.

It said the airline would be directed to pay compensation for any expense incurred by a person adversely affected by its failure to apply the fares, rates, charges or terms and conditions set out in the tariff.

"Therefore, the NCAA wishes to advise all airline operators and stakeholders to discountenance the reports and continue to operate in an atmosphere of liberalisation and level playing field the Federal Government has put in place," it said.

NIGERIA: Nigerian Airlines Spend Over N250bn Annually On Overseas Aircraft Maintenance

Commercial airlines, charter operators and privately owned jets spend about N250 billion annually on aircraft maintenance and simulator training of pilots, THISDAY investigation has revealed. Airlines, according the checks, pay a minimum of $500, 000 for engine overhaul and about the same amount of money for C-Check maintenance on a Boeing 737 aircraft. It was gathered that Nigerian airlines spend so much because everything that has to do major maintenance is done overseas, including recurrent training for engineers and pilots. Because of the huge cost of overseas maintenance and frequency for recurrent training, industry operators fear that Nigeria cannot get perfect safety standard that could be obtained in more advanced countries because it costs a Nigerian airline almost four times what it would cost similar airline in the US to change nose-wheel of an aircraft.

“First, if you want to change a nose-wheel of a Boeing 737, you have to import it, you have to pay for import cost, clearing cost and this will take you some time. Then if it is a Nigerian engineer that will do it, you must have trained him overseas at a higher cost than an airline in the US will train such engineer in his employ. So at the end of the day the total cost of replacing a nose-wheel for Nigerian airline might cost $700, 000 while it will just cost the US airline about $150,000. He will call on phone and order for the delivery of the aircraft part which would come in two hours through DHL, the engineer may just do his training across the road, so much cost is saved,” an aeronautical engineer, would not want his name in print told THISDAY.

An inspector with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) also told THISDAY that the cost of carrying out maintenance is very expensive because of the exchange rate, because Nigerian airlines sell their tickets in Naira but the maintenance is paid in dollars. “The cost of engine overhaul is dependent on the size of the engine, how common the engine is, so it will be cheaper to carry out maintenance on Boeing 737 engine than on Bombardier CRJ 1000 for example and when an engine flies for 10,000 hours it will be due for full overhaul that could cost a minimum of $500, 000 but that depends on the engine structure and operating technic because engines that are subjected on high power operations during take-off reduces the engine life span than when you reduce engine power during take-off,” the inspector said.

The solution to the high cost of overseas maintenance, he said is the establishment of MRO facility in Nigeria. It is expected that the federal government would facilitate the establishment of MRO in Nigeria in order to save Nigerian airlines huge resources they spend overseas to maintain their aircraft. Industry expert and former Secretary-Gen African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Nick Fadugba said: “Nigeria needs a modern international MRO (Maintenance Repair Overhaul) organisation in Lagos. MRO must be where the business is, which is Lagos. Abuja is great but MRO must be where the business is, and that is Lagos because not only will you do line maintenance (daily servicing of the aircraft), you can also do checks-light check and heavy check. It is all a process and it won’t happen overnight. One airline may not be able to build a hangar, or none of them has the fleet size to justify the investment. “Therefore Nigerian airlines should come together with a foreign investor. There are so many competent organisations in that field that can build a hangar of world class dimension, not only that they can fulfil maintenance for one line but for airlines in Nigeria.”