Green Africa’s Entry-Into-Service Moved To July 2021 As Agreed With Nigeria CAA…Airline To Compensate Booked Pax.
Green Africa has announced that in agreement with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the commencement of flight operations will now take place in July 2021 rather than the earlier announced June 24.
The airline said the decision was taken ‘At a joint meeting between top officials of the regulatory body and senior executives of Green Africa’, as it was concluded that the airline’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) will not be available till July 2021 due to unforeseen circumstances.
Expressing his mindset and that the carrier would compensate already booked passengers, Babawande Afolabi, Founder and CEO of Green Africa said: “This is certainly a bump in the road, and we are mindful of the impact especially on our customers and other stakeholders. However, we are confident of the NCAA’s support and commitment to get Green Africa into service, and we have also put plans in place to compensate our affected customers.”
There is a temporary stop to booking on its website as it says it is in order ‘To mitigate against any further occurrence.’ “New bookings on greenafrica.com have been temporarily suspended and customers who booked previously will be contacted,” the airline said. “All customers who have booked flights with Green Africa will be able to move their flights to future dates starting August 2021 at no extra charge.”
Explaining the compensation arranged for booked passengers, Green Africa said: “In appreciation of the trust from the airline’s early customers and in recognition of the inconvenience of rebooking, each customer will receive an automated email with 50% of the value of their booking in a credit shell within 7 days. This can be used to purchase another ticket with Green Africa.”
The airline had in its plan to serve Lagos (LOS) connecting Akure (AKR), Ilorin (ILR), Abuja (ABV), Owerri (QOW), Port Harcourt (PHC), and Enugu (ENU), with the availability of three (3) aircraft ATR 72-600s (registration numbers: 5N-GAE, 5N-GAA, and 5N-GAD).
Emirates To Resume Twice Weekly Flights Each To Lagos And Abuja Airports Starting June 26
According to Emirates (EK) website, looking at the flights’ availability as the gulf carrier recommences flight operations to Nigeria, it was gathered that flights to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja will begin on June 26 with twice weekly (Saturdays and Sundays) flights each to the two airports in the country.
Though reports have it that Dubai’s airline will resume flights connecting Nigeria, India, and South Africa and Nigeria to Dubai from June 23, available flights to Nigeria begin June 26.
Conditions given to passengers from Nigeria stated that: “For travelers from Nigeria, passengers must present a negative test result for a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure; UAE citizens are exempted from this requirement. The negative PCR test certificate should carry a QR Code and the test must have been conducted by labs approved by the Nigerian Government. Passengers must also undergo a PCR test on arrival in Dubai. Transit passengers should comply with entry protocols of final destinations.”
According to Gulf News: “Emirates welcomes the latest protocols and measures announced by Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management to allow the safe resumption of passenger travel from South Africa, Nigeria and India to Dubai and onwards,” said the airline’s spokesperson in a statement.
The Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai said passengers from India with a valid residence visa who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine, will be allowed to travel to Dubai. They should also present a negative test certificate from a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure.
“We will resume carrying passengers from South Africa, Nigeria, and India in accordance with these protocols from 23rd June,” said Emirates. “We thank the Supreme Committee for their continuous efforts in monitoring the development of the situation and announcing the appropriate guidelines and protocols to protect the community and safeguard the travel sector.”
NiMet Warns of More Flight Delays, Cancellations over Adverse Weather
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has issued adverse weather alert that could cause significant flight delays and cancellations.
NiMet also said flight turbulence could increase as a result of increasing thunderstorms, microbursts, heavy rains among other adverse weather conditions.
The Director-General of NiMet, Prof Mansur Bako Matazu, disclosed this on Friday at a press briefing in Abuja on recent weather events.
He said NiMet weather radars have detected increased adverse weather events that could lead to disruptions in the atmosphere with adverse discomfort to flight operators and even the farmers.
According to him, some of the other adverse weather include; wind shear, lightening, heavy precipitation, gustiness, severe icing, and low-level wind shear.
He said the severe thunderstorms could cause accidents, incidents, flight delays, flight cancellations, death, damage to aircrafts, and severe turbulence.
Prof Matazu said the severe turbulence could cause discomforts, injury to passengers, instability, loss of aircraft control, especially very small aircraft.
He also noted that the heavy rains could lead to runway surface wetness leading to aircraft skidding, impaired horizontal visibility, hindrance to ground operations such as baggage handling, refueling, catering and so more.
The NiMet DG, therefore, advised passengers to be a bit more patient with airlines as the adverse weather could cause disruptions to flight plans.
He thus called on airlines, the pilots and even the travelers to take into account these weather events as they unfold.
He said pilots should take precautions and adhere to standard operating procedures during flight.
Airlines, Holiday Companies Ramp Up Pressure on Britain to Ease Travel Rules
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) – Britain’s airlines and holiday companies are planning a “day of action” on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season.
Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. But with Britain’s strict quarantine requirements still in place that now looks likely.
As the clock ticks down to July, Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair (RYA.I) and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules before the industry’s most profitable season starts. read more
On Wednesday, June 23, pilots, cabin crew and travel agents will gather in Westminster, central London, and at airports across Britain to try to drum up support.
Britain’s aviation industry has been harder hit by the pandemic than its European peers, according to data published by pilots trade union BALPA on Sunday.
That showed daily arrivals and departures into the United Kingdom were down 73% on an average day earlier this month compared to before the pandemic, the biggest drop in Europe. Spain, Greece and France were down less than 60%.
UK airports were also badly affected, with traffic in and out of London’s second busiest airport Gatwick down 92%, according to the data.
The government had to balance the risks of foreign holidays bringing new variants of the virus into Britain, justice minister Robert Buckland told the BBC. Public Health England official Susan Hopkins said people should predominantly holiday at home this summer while the population is vaccinated.
But time is running out for the industry, said the union.
“There is no time to hide behind task forces and reviews,” said BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton.
“BALPA is demanding that the UK Government gets its act together and opens the U.S. routes and European holiday travel destinations that it has blocked with no published evidence at all.”
Over 45,000 jobs have already been lost in UK aviation, with estimates suggesting that 860,000 aviation, travel and tourism jobs are being sustained only by government furlough schemes.
Source: Reuters
Largest Boeing 737 MAX Model Takes Off on Maiden Flight
SEATTLE, June 17 (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s (BA.N) 737 MAX 10, the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family, took off on its maiden flight on Friday, in a further step toward recovering from the safety grounding of a smaller model.
The plane completed a roughly 2-1/2-hour flight over Washington State, returning to Renton Municipal Airport near Seattle at 12:38 p.m.
The first flight heralds months of testing and safety certification work before the jet is expected to enter service in 2023.
In an unusual departure from the PR buzz surrounding first flights, the event was kept low-key as Boeing tries to navigate overlapping crises caused by a 20-month grounding in the wake of two crashes and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boeing’s 230-seat 737-10 is designed to close the gap between its 178-to-220-seat 737-9, and Airbus’s (AIR.PA) 185-to-240-seat A321neo, which dominates the top end of the narrowbody jet market, worth some $3.5 trillion over 20 years.
However, the market opportunity for the 737 MAX 10 is constrained by the jet’s range of about 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km), which falls short of the A321neo’s roughly 4,000 nm.
Boeing must also complete safety certification of the plane under a tougher regulatory climate following two fatal crashes of a smaller 737 MAX version grounded the model for nearly two years – with a safety ban still in place in China.
Boeing has carried out design and training changes on the MAX family, which returned to U.S. operations in December.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said the company is producing about 16 737 MAX jets a month at its Renton factory.
Boeing is working on safety enhancements for the 737 MAX 10, including for its air data indication system and adding a third cockpit indication requested by European regulators of the “angle of attack,” a parameter needed to avoid stalling or losing lift. Deal’s comments were provided to the media via a pool reporter inside a Boeing aircraft delivery center. Read More
Air Canada Inaugurates Montreal To Cairo Route
On Friday, Canadian national flag carrier Air Canada flew its first non-stop flight to Cairo, Egypt using a 255-seat Boeing 787-8 aircraft. The inaugural flight is the first year-round service that will see three flights a week between Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) and Cairo International Airport (CAI).
The flights will operate on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, returning to Canada a day later on a Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Besides giving the Star Alliance member a new gateway on the African continent, the new non-stop service will provide an essential link for the sizeable Egyptian community that settled in and around Montreal.
Cairo could prove to be good for Air Canada
When speaking about the new non-stop service between Montreal and Cairo Senior Vice President, Network Planning and Revenue Management of Air Canada, Mark Galardo said the following in a company statement:
“Air Canada is pleased to offer its first scheduled flights to Egypt. We are strategically rebuilding our international network by adding new routes that support leisure and visiting friends and family travel. With few non-stop options to Egypt from North America, we see opportunities to launch new non-stop flights to Cairo from Montreal, where there is an established Egyptian community.
“We have also built convenient connections to and from our Cairo flights from across Canada and the US at our Montreal hub. This new route shows our commitment to rebuilding our international network and our Montreal hub, which have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Read More
Sources: Reuters, SimplyFlying News, Daily Trust, AviationAges