Chinedu Eze
Nigeria has lost the West African air market to Ghana as today no Nigerian airline is operating to destinations such as Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia and the Gambia.
Industry operatives told THISDAY that the aforementioned routes used to be lucrative for Nigerian airlines, where they generate dollar revenue and were known as low hanging fruits.
Since international flights started on September 5, last year, no Nigerian airline has been operating to any of the aforementioned routes, which are currently dominated by Ghana-based African World Airlines (AWA), Asky, Air Senegal and others.
Along with the loss of these air travel market are also businesses that were dominated by Nigerians but today, with the influx of Chinese into retail trade in the West Coast and the entrance of South African investors, Nigeria has lost huge market in the sub-region.
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INDICATIONS have emerged that many pilots and engineers placed on ‘leave without pay’ by some domestic airlines to survive the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may soon be recalled to their duties.
This was made known by the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), the umbrella body of pilots and engineers in the country’s aviation sector.
To ensure the affected pilots and engineers are re-engaged into the system, the President of NAAPE, Comrade Abednego Galadima said the leadership of the association was already working assiduously with airline operators to ensure the return of the affected members.
defenceWeb
Written by defenceWeb -
A Hungarian delegation visiting the Nigerian Air Force.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has strengthened ties with Hungary, which will help the service with fighter pilot training, the operation and maintenance of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) cameras and more.
This was disclosed on 22 January by the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, while receiving the Hungarian Consul-General to Nigeria, Endre Peter Deri, and the Chief Executive Officer, Hungarian Magnus Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, Mr Laszo Boros, at the Headquarters NAF in Abuja.
Speaking during the visit, the CAS said that partnership between the NAF and Hungary would enable the NAF to take advantage of the competencies available in Hungary to address some of the technical challenges the service currently faces in the conduct of its operations.
•Stakeholders harp on quality assurance, training to tackle human errors
Worried by the dip in aviation safety records globally, experts have pushed for concerted efforts to deepen safer sky across the local operations.
The stakeholders, who recently revisited causes of incidents and accidents in the aviation industry, said renewed efforts were imperative given the place of human factors in air mishaps.
Specifically, they sought in-organisation quality assurance and good communication mechanisms, regulatory safety oversights, personnel routine training programmes and better collaboration between operators, service providers and regulatory agencies. x
Indeed, aviation prides itself as the most regulated industry in the world. But it has not been able to say the same about safety lately.
By Nwabueze Okonkwo, ONITSHA
Anambra state government has debunked a statement recently credited to the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika to the effect that the on-going Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport project located at Umueri community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state is among 10 airports in the country being built by the federal government.
The state Commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba in a press statement, said although the federal government appreciated the need for an airport in Anambra state given the huge population and the universally acknowledged business dynamism of the people who constantly travel around the world, the on-going Airport project is being developed and financed solely by the state government.