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Aviation

Scarcity of forex forces Air Peace to suspend flights on  South Africa route

Eyewitness reporter

Air Peace, on Monday, said it has stopped flight operations to Johannesburg, South Africa effective from August 22, 2022, due to delayed issuance of South African visas to travellers, worsening forex crunch and the increasing cost of aviation fuel as well as its scarcity.

The carrier in a statement on items official Twitter handle said the development was regretted but has become inevitable, saying the situation may improve in 60 days.

According to the airline, they have informed the South African High Commission in Lagos of the effects of the difficulty in getting SA visas by Nigerians, which consequence is the abysmally low passenger loads o flights to and from Johannesburg.

The statement read, “Passengers whose flights are affected have the option of rescheduling to fly before August 22, 2022, or from October 9, 2022. Passengers can also request a refund via callcenter@flyairpeace.com and our team will attend to it promptly.

The carrier apologised for the inconveniences caused, stressing that it would keep the public updated while it hoped the situation improves.

The sudden stoppage of operations by Nigeria’s airlines has further reinforced the precarious situation of carriers in the country and globally as airlines are extremely finding it difficult to operate profitably because of the crisis that has hit the sector, particularly on the skyrocketing prices of Jet fuel.

The foreign exchange (FX) liquidity crisis is eating deeper into the daily operations of the local airlines, causing airlines’ capacity to dwindle and hitting up airfares.

With aviation fuel at its all-time high and foreign exchange unavailable to meet obligations on schedule, local air travellers should brace up for tougher days ahead.

Operators have warned that the dire situation, now feasting on airlines’ operations, would worsen flight delays and cancellations, further reduce frequencies and routes, and push airfares higher as more carriers battle to stay afloat.

With 10 local airlines suddenly down to eight, the effects are telling on local travels. On the one hand are the stranded travellers on less viable routes. On the other are high-frequency routes that are now affected by high fares.

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Aviation

Keyamo approves relocation of FAAN back to Lagos ,says staying in Abuja is waste of public funds.

Keyamo
The Eyewitness Reporter
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has explained the reasons why he approved the relocation of the Headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) back to Lagos.
In a press statement signed Mrs. Obiageli Orah, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Keyamo explained that the initial relocation of FAAN headquarters from Lagos, from where it had been operating decades ago, was ill-advised which he said amounted to a waste of public funds.
The Minister further explained that those affected by the initial decision to move the agency’s headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there was no office space for them in Abuja.
“We have noted the inquiries some Nigerians have made regarding the directive of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, to relocate the corporate Headquarters of FAAN from Abuja to its original base, Lagos, where it has operated for decades until recently.
“FAAN wishes to inform Nigerians that following wide consultations by the new Management of FAAN with stakeholders, which also involved the Unions, it was agreed that this was in the best interest of the Authority and the country for now for the following reasons:
“It was ill-advised in the first place to move the headquarters to Abuja when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate all of them at once.
” Those affected by the initial decision to move the agency’s headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there is no office space for them in Abuja
“Having returned to Lagos, the Authority would be liable to pay them DTA (DUTY TOUR ALLOWANCE) because technically they are working OUT OF STATION as their official posting is to ABUJA.
“The Minister has decided to stop this waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse.
⁠”The other option open to the Authority was abandon the old FAAN building in Lagos to rot away and to use its scarce resources to rent an office space in Abuja for Millions of Naira of public money when in actual fact more than sixty percent of its activities are in Lagos given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports.
“The stakeholders and the Minister decided against that and to save the country this waste.
“The Minister has rolled out plans to get concessionaires to build befitting offices for the Authority in Lagos and Abuja and until that is done, the Authority will continue to manage its old building in Lagos that can accommodate all its Directors and senior officials for now.
“⁠Abuja continues to have full operational offices and the Authority has not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit.
“It is just the technical decision of where the Authority has its ‘corporate headquarters’ that has been taken without affecting the structure of operations as they are for now in both cities.
” ⁠In the near future, when befitting corporate buildings have been built for the Authority in both Lagos and Abuja, a final decision will be taken as to the location of the permanent headquarters, depending on the exigencies of the time.
“The Authority wishes to assure members of the public that it will continue to act in the best interest of the public and the country.
“The Honourable Minister is committed to making decisions that are in the best interest of the country, especially as it concerns public funds and will not yield to ethnic or sectional sentiments that will derail this commitment”, the statement concluded.
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Aviation

News Alert! Pandemonium in Lagos as Helicopter explodes, crashes into building

The Eyewitness Reporter
Confusion and panic gripped the residents of Oba Akran area of Lagos when a Helicopter crashed into a resident building in the area.
According to an eyewitness at the scene of the incident, the helicopter crashed into a building located adjacent  AP filling station and United Bank of Africa (UBA) and exploded.
The incident, which happened around 3:00 pm Tuesday, caused pandemonium among the residents in the area who ran helter-skelter.
Sources said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was immediately mobilised to the scene where four persons were rescued from the wreckage.

NEMA’s Lagos Territorial Office Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye who confirmed the crash, said rescue operations were ongoing.

He said details were still sketchy, adding that information would be provided as soon as they were available.

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Aviation

Sirika, former Aviation minister, ‘jets’ into DSS custody over Air Nigeria controversial project

Hadi Sirika
The Eyewitness Reporter
The Department of State Services (DSS) has caught up with Hadi Sirika, the former Minister of Aviation over the controversial Air Nigeria project.
The former Aviation minister was taken into the custody of the secret police for questioning on the national carrier project widely believed to be a scam.
He was said to have reported himself to the DSS office in Abuja Thursday in a Range Rover SUV after which he was reportedly grilled for several hours over the failed project.
Sirika had, at the twilight of his tenure, went through what was later discovered to be a charade when he launched the multi-million dollar national air carrier, Air Nigeria.
The lid on what has now been described as a scam ”launch” was blown open by the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, who admitted that the plane that was unveiled as Air Nigeria was a chartered aircraft from Ethiopian Airlines.
Olumide had told the stunned members of the Senate Committee on Aviation that the aircraft was leased from Ethiopian Airlines and merely used to unveil the Air Nigeria logo as the real Air Nigeria project was yet to be operational.
The plane that was unveiled was confirmed to be over 10 years old and had previously been operated by Ethiopian Airlines and Malawi Airlines.

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