Aircraft
Nigerian airlines list conditions for full refund to passengers after two-hour flight delay
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...
APC group commends President Buhari, security agents for ‘decimating’ IPOB
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign has commended President Muhammadu Buhari and federal security agents for decimating separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The group, in a statement issued by the quartet of Barr Ismail Ahmed, Lanre Issa-Onilu, Tolu Ogunlesi and Salihu Moh Lukman, claimed that the country will in the next few months witness even more progress on all fronts. ‘On security, the fear that has gripped the nation in recent times is receding while confidence is being renewed as the security agencies are chasing down the criminals, taking the battle to the bandits, unknown gunmen, kidnappers, and other criminal elements who have been holding the country by the jugular and turning Nigeria to a killing field,’ the group stated. ‘From the...
UK: Some countries are using coronavirus vaccines as a geopolitical tool
British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday there was no doubt some countries were using vaccines as a diplomatic tool to secure influence but Britain did not support so-called vaccine diplomacy. Raab was speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Cornwall, southwestern England, that was likely to be dominated by the West’s attempts to reassert its influence as the world looks to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. Western diplomats fear Russia and China are using their vaccines to gain influence across the world, especially in poorer countries that do not have their own production or the means to buy shots on the international market. Asked whether he was concerned that China and Russia could use vaccines in exchange for influence, Raab said: “There’s no doubt there’s...
Nigerian airlines record low patronage over insecurity
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...
NAF chief: Armed forces committed to end insecurity
The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, yesterday declared that the Armed Forces remained committed to ending the crisis of insecurity ravaging the nation. He said the expected delivery of six A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets by the United States in July and two drones from China, would be a “game changer” in the war against insurgency. The position of the air force chief is coming on a day the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, sought the assistance of the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, to provide security for train stations and railway construction sites across the country. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of 1,031 recruits of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Basic Military Training Course 41/2020, Amao affirmed that “the NAF in consonance w...
Fury over Belarus airliner ‘hijack’ set to dominate EU summit
Fury over the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Belarus has upended the agenda of a European Union summit dinner on Monday, where leaders were due to discuss relations with Russia and Britain but will now also consider punitive steps against Minsk. Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force the civilian aircraft to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was among the passengers on board. The diversion of a plane owned by an EU company that was flying between two EU capitals was “an inadmissible step”, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said, and it would be raised at the summit. “The EU will consider the consequences of this action, including taking measures against those responsible,” Josep Bor...
Belarus’s forced landing of Lithuania-bound Ryanair plane sparks outrage
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land on Sunday in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist on board was detained, prompting international condemnation. EU member Lithuania urged the European Union and NATO to respond, Germany called for an immediate explanation and Poland’s prime minister called it a “reprehensible act of state terrorism”. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Belarus’s action was “utterly unacceptable”. The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA state news agency. Belarusian law e...
Nigeria’s chief of army staff dies in plane crash
General Ibrahim Attahiru, the Chief of Army Staff, has died in a plane crash. Details of the incident are still sketchy but a military source told newsmen that it happened in Kaduna on Friday. In a statement, the Nigerian Air Force confirmed that there was an accident involving one of its aircraft in Kaduna but did not go into details. “An air crash involving a @NigAirForce aircraft occurred this evening near the Kaduna International Airport. The immediate cause of the crash is still being ascertained. More details to follow soon,” read the statement signed by Edward Gabkwet, the force’s Director of Public Relations and Information. A source said there were eight persons on board the aircraft. Attahiru was appointed Chief of Army Staff on January 26, 2021. Born on 10th August 1966 in Doka,...
Ex-President Obasanjo: Education for all, way out of insecurity
Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday said if the country will get out of the present insecurity threatening the corporate existence of the nation, such as banditry, Boko Haram, kidnaping, and other criminalities, Nigeria need to go through a very long gestation period of training and educating all Nigerian children. Speaking at the commissioning of Prof. Abayomi Oluwatosin Jiboku Building, Lariken International College, Ologuneru, Ibadan, Oyo state capital, on Friday, he advised government at all levels to invest hugely in Western education to tackle insecurity. Obasanjo stated that Nigerians should reawaken their conscience and they should not be falling cheaply for pecuniary gains, which, according to him, has been fueling corruption and insecurity besetting th...
Rivers government seeks relocation of NIMASA cabotage department
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has appealed to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to return its Cabotage Services Department to Port Harcourt. Wike made the appeal when the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, visited him in Port Harcourt, recently. Wike said operations of the Cabotage Services Department of NIMASA used to be in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but it was relocated to Lagos. The governor said in spite of his administration’s procurement of gunboats for security agencies, especially the Police and Navy to assist in the fight against piracy and ensure safety on the waterways for NIMASA’s businesses to thrive, the state did not get anything in return. He commended Jamoh for the initiative aimed at harnessing ocean resources as an ...
Chanchangi braces up to resume flight operations
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...
Taiwan reports largest incursion yet by Chinese air force
Twenty-eight Chinese air force aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday, the island’s government said, the largest reported incursion to date. While there was no immediate comment from Beijing, the news comes after the Group of Seven leaders issued a joint statement on Sunday scolding China for a series of issues and underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, comments China condemned as “slander”. Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained over the last few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the self-ruled island, concentrated in the southwestern part of its air defence zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. The latest Chinese mission involved 14 J-16 ...