AIB Releases Probe Report on Crashed Police Helicopter, Three Others

Uncleared aircraft flies into closed Bauchi Airport

The Accident Investigation Bureau-Nigeria (AIB-N), yesterday, released preliminary findings on the Nigerian Police Bell Helicopter that crashed in Bauchi about three months ago.

According to findings, the aircraft that crash-landed with severe damage and minor injuries to the occupants flew into the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport, Bauchi, after it was closed to operations.

AIB-N observed that the police helicopter, which departed Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja to Maiduguri on a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight plan, with a planned technical stop at Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport, Bauchi crashed at 19:47hrs in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC).

Various reasons were adduced for the accident of the helicopter, including a breakdown of onboard equipment and communication gaps between the crew and control towers.

The report said that before the accident, the aircraft with six souls on board; three crew members, and three passengers, contacted the Abuja tower at 17:45hrs, requested for engine start to Bauchi, and confirmed the flight plan for the journey.

AIB-N in its preliminary report said that at 17:50hrs, the tower cleared the aircraft to Abuja control zone boundary en route to Bauchi, not above 5,500ft and to standby lift.

It said the tower then passed prevailing wind as 110/04kts and further cleared the helicopter to lift, left turn out after lift in which the pilot responded in affirmative.

The report stated that the crew further stated that at 18:40hrs when they were en route to Jos Airport, they made an attempt again to establish two-way communication with Jos tower, but proved abortive.

However, despite this, the flight continued as filed, but at 18:46hrs, the helicopter tried to establish initial contact with Bauchi tower on 124.5 MHz without response.

The report said the crew continued its failed attempt to establish two-way communication with the Jos tower every five-minute intervals until they got to the Bauchi control zone boundary, yet continued with preparations for landing with the belief that even if the tower was closed, provided the airport was illuminated, they could land. Read more

Watch: For UAE Aviation Industry, Travel Restrictions are a Thing of the Past, says Emirates’ Adnan Kazim

Dubai: Border closures and travel restrictions are a thing of the past for the global aviation industry preparing for a comeback after a two-year pandemic, according to a top Emirates airline official.

“The world has gotten away from that thinking,” said Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates, speaking on the sidelines of a media event. “Some countries require people to wear masks and that is a good way to minimize the spread. But that does not mean the world will go backward.”

Kazim’s remarks come as China – one of the world’s largest aviation markets – is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases, particularly in Shanghai. “The impact of Omicron and various other variants that came out is not major, and the cases in UAE are quite low,” said Kazim. “Based on that optimistic view, we have moved forward and ramped up our capacity.”

Emirates Airlines has gone back to full pre-pandemic flight frequencies to all its destinations in India. The move came on the back of India’s decision to restore international flights to and from the country. “We are reviewing other places for further expansion,” said Kazim.

Kazim’s remarks come as China – one of the world’s largest aviation markets – is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases, particularly in Shanghai. “The impact of Omicron and various other variants that came out is not major, and the cases in UAE are quite low,” said Kazim. “Based on that optimistic view, we have moved forward and ramped up our capacity.”

Emirates Airlines has gone back to full pre-pandemic flight frequencies to all its destinations in India. The move came on the back of India’s decision to restore international flights to and from the country. “We are reviewing other places for further expansion,” said Kazim.

Running at full

The Emirates’ official said that the Eid break had resulted in a surge in flight bookings from UAE and other Islamic countries. “This is helping boost traffic to places like Seychelles, Mauritius, and – we’re also seeing demand into Jordan and Asia.

“The UK is taking a big share of that demand and US flights are also quite full,” said Kazim. “Flights to India are standing at almost 100 percent seat load factor.”

The airline announced that it will significantly ramp up its Middle East flight capacity between April 28 and May 8. “With Eid Al Fitr approaching and more travelers planning to take to the skies, Emirates is responding by offering more flights across seven cities in the GCC and the Middle East,” said Emirates in a statement on Tuesday. Read more

Africa’s Jambojet Places Its Immediate Focus On Domestic Recovery

The budget carrier has put its international expansion plans on hold at the moment

Kenya’s low-cost regional airline Jambojet will prioritize local routes for the time being as it looks to consolidate business within the country before expanding internationally. The airline had to suspend some of its international flights during COVID and has no immediate plans of deploying its aircraft to overseas destinations on a large scale.

Focus on the domestic market

Jambojet does not plan to add any new international routes this year and wants to focus on growing its business within the Kenyan market. Business Daily Africa reports that the budget carrier has no plans to launch new international routes for the remainder of the year.

Jambojet’s Chief Executive Officer Karanja Ndegwa commented,

“No additional for the year, the rest (routes) are long-term of two to three years, for now we are focusing on growing internally.”

Jambojet was launched in 2014 as a low-cost subsidiary of Kenya Airways and is headquartered in Nairobi. It operates in seven cities in Kenya, with its destinations out of Nairobi including regional centers such as Mombasa, Malindi, Kisumu, and Lamu.

Earlier this month, the carrier increased the number of flights to Mombasa, Malindi, Eldoret, Kisumu, and Ukunda, following high demand ahead of the Easter holiday.

At the moment, the only international destination where Jambojet deploys its aircraft is the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. As per ch-aviation, the carrier operates six DCH-8-400 aircraft with an average age of four years.

International expansion on hold

Jambojet had to scale back international operations significantly at the height of the COVID pandemic. It stopped flying to Entebbe and Kigali in 2021 and does not plan to resume these services anytime soon.

Entebbe started out as a profitable route for the carrier, witnessing more than 17% growth in 2019 since its launch in February 2018. However, with increasing border restrictions during COVID, coupled with extremely low demand, Entebbe became a casualty of the pandemic. Read more

Emirates Plans Extra Flights To Meet Eid Travel Demand

With the Eid Al Fitr celebrations approaching Emirates is getting its A380s and B777s out of the parking lot and on the runway.

Emirates is gearing up for Eid Al Fitr by adding extra flights to seven cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Middle East.

Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and the State of Kuwait.

Emirates is adding more flights to the cities it already serves in Saudi Arabia; Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, and Dammam. It will also offer more flights to Amman, Beirut, and Kuwait, bringing the total flights added to twenty-three.

Emirates is relying on its A380s and B777s for capacity

The added capacity will come from deploying Airbus A380 and Boeing B777 aircraft on selected routes. Emirates will be offering the extra capacity from April 28 to May 8 to these seven cities.

Data from ch-aviation.com reveals that Emirates has 73 of its A380-800s active while 48 are inactive. For its B777-300ER, the numbers are 122 active and two inactive, while there are also 10 B777-200LR on active duty.

In Saudi Arabia, Emirates is adding two additional flights on May 2 and May 8 to meet expected demand in and out of Riyadh. To Jeddah, it will add five B777 flights and upgrade an existing flight to the A380.

There will be four additional flights to Medina in the same period, and on April 28, one extra flight to Dammam.

Emirates also expects heavy demand for flights from Saudi Arabia to Dubai for Eid Al Fitr celebrations. The airline says other in-demand destinations from Saudi Arabia include the Maldives, Paris, Bangkok, Mauritius, Manila, and Los Angeles.

Kuwaiti travelers will head to Dubai for the celebrations and further afield to London, Mauritius, the Maldives, Paris, and Bangkok. To meet that extra demand, Emirates is laying on additional B777 services.

Catering to a large family reunion market, Emirates is adding extra B777 flights from Beruit and Amman to Dubai.

Staying in tune with the festive season and Middle Eastern hospitality, Emirates will be serving a specially crafted Eid menu from May 2 to May 5. The Eid menu will be served on all GCC, the Middle East and North Africa flights departing from or arriving in Dubai.

Arabic coffee, dates, and traditional Eid sweets will be served in the Emirates First and Business Class Dubai lounges. In the Cairo and Singapore lounges, customers will be offered special sweets and savory dishes.

On April 6, Emirates announced it was restarting four routes and adding capacity on others.

Services to Bali will restart on May 1, London Stanstead on August 1, Rio de Janeiro on November 2, and Buenos Aries on November 2. Boeing B777-300ER aircraft will operate the four routes.

Bali will resume with five weekly flights, going daily from July 1. Similarly, London Stanstead will start with five weekly flights and go daily from September 1.

By October, Emirates will be operating 110 weekly flights to the UK. Flights will service the London airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stanstead and to Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Glasgow.

Four weekly flights to Buenos Aries via Rio de Janeiro will restart on November 2 and shift to daily from February 1, 2023. Read more

Sources; Simply Flying, Guardian, Gulf News