Kaduna Security Breach: House Of Reps Calls For FG Intervention

Worried by the latest security breach at the Kaduna airport, the House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to through the office of the National Security Adviser, (NSA), the Chief of Defense Staff, the Inspector-General of Police, and heads of other security agencies to holistically intervene by setting up a special security task force (SSTF) on airports across the country.

This came just as the lower chamber has summoned the Heads of Security Agencies, Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, and the heads of aviation agencies for a meeting with the House leadership and the chairmen of relevant committees of the House of Representatives on the recent security breach at the Kaduna International Airport.

The House took the decision after adopting the motion of Urgent National Importance, titled, ‘Urgent Need for The Federal Government Investigate The Recent Banditry Attack at Kaduna International Airport And Reinforce Security Surveillance and Personnel in All The Nigerian Airports’ sponsored by Honourable Nnolim Nnaji, the Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Aviation.

The House further directed the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Federal Airports of Nigeria, (FAAN) security, and other security agencies to come up with a more proactive measure in securing the airports including providing modern security surveillance equipment on the perimeter fences in all airports.

Presenting the motion earlier, the Chairman of the House, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji told the colleagues how about a year ago, armed bandits attacked the staff quarters of FAAN at the same Kaduna airport and abducted about twelve persons.

He equally noted that just last Friday, March 25, 2022, another horrific armed banditry attack was unleashed at the airport resulting in the death of a security guard of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

Honourable Nnaji acknowledged the swift intervention of the military and other security agencies who confronted the heavily armed bandits numbering over a hundred adding that their gallantry saved the situation.

The Aviation Committee Chairman said he was concerned that the attack on Kaduna Airports might escalate to other airports if urgent measures were not taken to safeguard the nation’s aerodromes.

Easter: Aero Woos Passengers With Four For Five Promo

In a bid to encourage families to travel this Easter season, Nigeria’s oldest aviation company, Aero Contractors has introduced a promo tagged: ‘Four Four Five (FFF) Promo’.

With this promo, anyone who buys four tickets gets the fifth one for free.

The airline said the sales of this promotional package were available for tickets bought on its and across the counter from March 26 to April 17, 2022.

“To be eligible for this promo, booking for all four passengers must be on the same reference. Passengers are advised to make bookings within the window period in order to enjoy this promo. The fifth ticket will be valid till the end of June 2022, from the date of purchase and it can be used at any time within the period.”

The offer, the airline said, was “timely for our existing customers and new customers who will have the opportunity to visit or spend time with their loved ones during the holiday season.

“We are delighted to introduce this promotional package which will assist our customers to re-unite with their loved ones during this Easter holiday season. At Aero Contractors, we are committed to making flying accessible and making sure our customers have the opportunity to celebrate with their loved ones every holiday.”

Dana Air Announces Customer-Centric Easy Facilitation Exercise

Determined to ease passengers’ facilitation and check-in processes, Dana Air has added yet another customer-centric solution called Roving Check-in Agents.

According to the airline, the cutting-edge innovation which will supplement the self-check-in kiosk at the airport will aid in speedy check-in for passengers traveling with just hand luggage.

“What we are offering in roving agents is an immense value addition for our guests”, said the Media and Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa.

‘’Though these roving agents mainly cater to passengers with hand baggage, they also issue boarding passes to customers with check-in luggage. They do this strapped with two mobile devices, a palmtop to punch in the PNR number and a mini printer that prints the boarding passes; walk around the check-in counter issuing our customers their boarding passes instantly.’’

“We will continue to invest in technology for ease of reservation, booking, and check-in for our guests. We introduced the self-check-in kiosk some years back and are now roving. We’re slowly moving away from dedicated check-in counters for passengers with hand luggage, to more innovative methods”.

Similarly, the airline has announced exclusive cash plus miles deals for members of its loyalty program called Dana Miles Club.

Speaking on the new deals for Dana Miles Club members, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Sukhjiner Mann said:’’our customers have actually been through a lot with the ongoing scarcity and hike in the cost of jet A1 and we remain sincerely sorry for the inconveniences these recent issues may have caused, but these are exciting times for our frequent flyers and intending members of the Dana Miles Club.

‘’With one mile selling for N3.00, members can now buy miles and part-pay for tickets using miles plus cash. Existing members get a 20 percent discount when they buy miles to pay for tickets while new members get 3,600 bonus miles when they buy 14,400 miles to get an economy ticket.

‘’This is surely the best time to be a member of Dana Miles as your accrued miles are now the game-changer. And if you are a new member, it’s time to buy miles to get instant economy or business class tickets as your desire.’’

IATA Announces Doha As New Host For 78th AGM

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that it’s 78th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit will take place between June 19 and 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

The event to be hosted by Qatar Airways will be the second time that the global gathering of aviation’s top leaders will be held in Qatar; the first being in 2014.

Originally, the 78th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit were planned for the same dates in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China, hosted by China Eastern Airlines but the decision to change the venue reflects continuing COVID-19 related restrictions on travel to China.

“It is deeply disappointing that we are not able to meet in Shanghai as planned. In the meantime, we are pleased to be returning to the dynamic aviation hub of Doha and the warm hospitality for which Qatar Airways, our host airline, has become famous. This year’s AGM will be an important opportunity for aviation leaders to reflect on the shifting political, economic, and technological realities facing air travel as the industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic gathers pace,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director-General.

We Lost About 70% of Revenue to COVID-19 – KLM

KLM, the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, says it lost over 70 per cent of its annual revenue in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Executive Vice Chairman, Commercial Division, Air France-KLM, Pleter Bootsma, disclosed this during a press briefing to commemorate the company’s 75 years of operating in Nigeria.

According to him, Africa is a big part of the company’s recovery process and booking and reservations for the airline are picking up.

He said, “The crisis has been deep for the airline industry after the COVID-19 hit the world, yes it has been an extremely difficult time for us, we have lost about 70-80 per cent of our revenues.

“We have $90bn in a year on the passenger’s side and if you lose 80 per cent of that is immense. But Africa stood strong during the crisis and was the best part of the network during the crisis. We are very happy to rebuild our African network right now.

“We are on the face of recovery as bookings have started picking up.”

Bootsma added that the ongoing war in Ukraine was a major hit on the airline industry as it had driven up the cost of doing business for airlines.

He said, “We really see that this is the time for our recovery. But unfortunately, we are not out of trouble because of the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“All the prices have increased as you all know. So that is another hit for the airline industry as well. Our cost of doing business has increased tremendously in the last few weeks. So, while we were just about to recover on the revenue side, we got a hit on the cost side.”

He added that the company was working towards a 30 per cent emission reduction by 2030. According to him, the company is in the process of repairing some of the loans it has incurred. Read more

Sources: The Tribune Online; The Punch Newspaper;