Following the pronouncement of the Federal Government that airline operators must refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay, commercial airlines have listed the conditions for such reimbursement. The airline operators made this known in separate interviews with newsmen. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had, on Thursday at the weekly State House briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja, read out some of the rights of air passengers as enshrined in Part 19 of the Consumer Protection Regulations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (2015) and charged them to demand their rights whenever they were being trampled upon by airlines. “On domestic flights, for delay beyond one hour, carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-ma...
Nigerian airlines have confirmed that passenger traffic has reduced in the last four weeks. This, they attributed to the growing insecurity in different parts of the country. Those who spoke to newsmen insisted that high airfares could be a factor, but insecurity was also identified as major reason. They noted that even at the peak of high cost of tickets in May and April, passenger traffic was still high. Newsmen learnt that some airlines that resumed flights to some destinations in the north had to withdraw, while the south-east airports, which used to be lucrative routes after Lagos and Abuja have recorded reduction in passenger movement. Head of Communications, Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, told newsmen that there is slight reduction in the airline’s load factor in its flights to Enugu, O...
Nine years after ceasing operations, Chanchangi Airlines Nigeria Limited is set to return to the country’s airspace. With its head office in the Chanchangi Office Complex in Kaduna, Nigeria, the airline had operated scheduled domestic passenger services. The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu, who disclosed the plan Friday said the Kaduna based airline is preparing a comeback. He gave the hint while explaining the high demand for air travels in the country, saying that “Chanchangi wants to come back and they want to use ATR. They are planning to come back. The demand is there.” Capt Nuhu equally observed a new trend in airline operations where operators are now shifting to smaller aircraft against the bigger ones. The DG said: “You mentioned th...
After series of accusations and counter-accusations generated by the suspension of Azman from flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) over violation of safety rules, the management of the airline has finally apologised to the regulatory agency for the rash actions it took over the suspension. The suspension of Azman by the NCAA was negatively reacted to by the airline with the management issuing a scandalous statement which accused the director-general of the NCAA, Captain Nuhu Musa, of suspending the airline to punish it for a previous disagreement between him and the airline. Azman had in the statement accused the NCAA DG of embarking on a vengeance mission which elicited reactions from key players across the sector. However, the latest statement issued and sig...
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has threatened to ban flights from the UAE and The Netherlands as a reciprocal action. The task force said the Ministry of Aviation and its relevant agencies have been mandated to take the necessary reciprocal measures as may be permissible under the laws and other international obligations expected to be discharged against Emirates airlines operating from the UAE and other airlines from The Netherlands. Mr Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of PTF and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, disclosed this at the routine briefing of the committee in Abuja on Monday. Mustapha said: “For over a month, Nigeria has been engaged with the authorities of the UAE and The Netherlands over pre-departure testing requirements passengers should meet before ...
Quorum Aviation, operators of the Bell helicopter that crashed Friday at Opebi area of Ikeja, Lagos has confirmed that the three people aboard the helicopter were crew members, not passengers. This is just as Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau , AIB, also said there were three people aboard the chopper and the agency has commence investigation. A statement from Quorum Aviation Friday said: “A light helicopter belonging to Quorum Aviation with registration Number 5N-BQW flying from Port-Harcourt to Lagos crashed between two buildings in Ikeja en-route to Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos”. “As soon as we received news of the accident, we promptly informed the aviation authorities, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). “Preliminary reports in...
The Presidential Taskforce, PTF, on COVID-19, on Thursday, decried the poor attitude of Nigerians towards COVID-19 testing and safety protocols, saying, despite the increased capacity, sample collection remains very low. Expressing displeasure during the weekly COVID-19 briefing in Abuja, the Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce, Boss Mustapha, further lamented that the numbers of local governments, LGAs, that are hot spots have increased from 16 to 20 and regrettably happened to be a hard-to-reach area. “Initially, we have 10 local government areas that are hot spots which eventually increased to 16 but now we have 20 LGAs that are hot spots. Regrettably, this recent local government is more remote. “Presently, Nigeria now has the capacity to test 15,000 people daily but sadly, what we ...
Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters As the country gears up to restart commercial flights, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria is set to deploy robots in its airports all over the country. It was gathered that the robots would be used for passenger facilitation processes including profiling, check-ins, temperature checks as well as detection of security threats including dangerous goods and arms. Confirming the development, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Henrietta Yakubu told newsmen over the phone that the test run of the robots was done at the Lagos Airport on Saturday. “It’s a demo that is going on in Lagos. It’s been demonstrated. If it works fine, it will be adopted,” she said. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority today conducted a simulation flight ahead of the reopenin...