On Monday, an Aero Contractor Flight NIG382 heading to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport encountered a bird strike on take-off at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Rivers State.
Also on Tuesday, another aircraft conveying the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, and other passengers similarly encountered the same incident on take-off forcing the pilot to make an air return. Also on March 21, 2021, a Kano- Lagos Aero Contractors flight also returned to Kano after one of the engines suffered a bird strike during take-off with many passengers stranded at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.
Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) in 2020 disclosed that Nigerian airlines lost about N6 billion to bird strike menace annually. Arik Air alone said it lost about $3.6 million to bird strikes between 2013 and 2019.
By Chinedu Eze
Airlines have attributed the skyrocketing airfares, which have elicited disaffection from travellers to the scarcity of dollars and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airlines, in separate interviews with THISDAY warned travellers to brace for a higher fare regime as economic indicators show that the problems are not likely to abate soon.
From N28, 000 for a one-hour flight after the high season in December 2020, the average cost of a one-hour ticket has now risen to N60, 000 for a one-way ticket and could rise as high as N120, 000 if a passenger buys a ticket on the day he is travelling.
For government establishment, from directorship level, you have first class and the rest is economy. And that was how the airline was run. It wasn’t meant for profit making. So, how do you survive?
Also, the presidency didn’t have an aircraft designated to it. Whenever the presidency had a function, they will just pull out an aircraft immediately either for local or international operations. There was a time the scheduled flights of the airline will just be disrupted midway. That was how even the government contributed to the death of the airline.
Now, how did staff and management contribute to its death? It is corruption; everybody was helping himself with the airline. First, everyone was employed based on the quota system. You will begin to get it wrong when you apply the quota system in aviation.
CEO of Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe
Aviation industry stakeholder and Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe, in this interview speaks on the challenges in the aviation industry, even as he appeals to the federal government to support the parastatals to survive the economic challenges occasioned by the coronavirus. He also calls on the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria to invite the founders of Aero Contractors and Arik Air and hold talks with them on the future of the airlines. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts:
For some time now there has been an exchange of words between the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the former management of Arik Air. While AMCON has said it met a hopeless situation when they took over Arik in February 2017; the airlineâs former management insists otherwise. So, what do you think?
Vanguard News
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
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Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in airfares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the airfares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more.
At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000.