Abuja Airport to get a second runway

The Federal Government has decided to construct a second runway at Abuja Airport. The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, declared that the expansion of Abuja Airport is part of the ongoing renovation of airports across Nigeria. In 2010, a contract for the construction of a new runway awarded to Julius Berger for $423 million was revoked because of the high cost. Oduah listed her achievements and plans at a meeting marking the first anniversary of President Jonathan’s administration. The Aviation Minister is also criticised for the way her transformation agenda is being financed.

New facade for Kano Airport terminal as part of the ongoing remodelling exercise

Renovation work at Enugu Airport is far from complete, despite the airport being open again. Images of construction work at Port Harcourt Airport and Calabar Airport.

Update:

The Federal Government and Chinese investors have reached an agreement for the latter to build state-of-the-art terminals at four major airports in Nigeria, including Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

This week’s update

Short updates:

• Aero has doubled its daily flights from Lagos to Calabar, Kano and Uyo (schedules).
• Aero’s fourth B737-400 (5N-BOB) was ferried to Lasham for painting.
• Arik Air will end its lease and lease back construction with HiFly soon. The two A345s will be transferred to the Nigerian registry and operated on Arik’s own AOC. CS-TFX will become 5N-JIA and CS-TFW will be re-registered 5N-JIB.
• Intrepid Aviation has denied that it will be leasing (up to) four A330s to Arik Air.
• Arik Air’s B738 (5N-MJP) returned into service after maintenance work at Smith Reynolds Airport.
• EgyptAir is reported to have agreed a one-year wet-lease of two of its A330-200 aircraft to Air Nigeria from May and June 2012.
• FirstNation Airways has temporarily suspended its daily Lagos-Port Harcourt flight due to the lack of operational aircraft.
• Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have signed an air services Memorandum of Understanding, which allows an increase in all-cargo frequency entitlements for the designated carriers of the two countries.
• A new start-up, Gambia Birds, is planning to commence flights between Banjul and Lagos.

KLM cancels Abuja and Kano per June 2012

KLM is cancelling its three weekly Amsterdam-Abuja-Kano-Amsterdam flight per 1 June 2012. This leaves Kano Airport without a direct air link to Europe after decades of uninterrupted service. MEA Air Liban, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Sudan Airways and Egyptair are currently the other international airlines flying to Kano.

KLM is 65 years in Nigeria

KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) is celebrating its 65th anniversary of flying into Nigeria. The airline started its operation in Nigeria on March 26, 1947 with a three weekly flight in/out of Kano. KLM currently offers daily flights out of Lagos, and three weekly flights out of Abuja and Kano to Amsterdam.

Convair CV-240 of KLM at Kano Airport in the early 1950s (copyright Old Git)

This week’s update

Short updates:

• Arik Air will suspend its Abuja-London service again per 25 March. Apparently the slot issue at London Heathrow has not been resolved.
• Arik Air has ferried one of its CRJ900 aircraft (5N-JEC) to Arkansas for maintenance recently.
• SkyBird Air will soon take delivery of its first Dornier 328Jet (5N-BMH).
• DANA will also accept a new Dornier 328 aircraft (5N-DOW / ex-D-CASI) soon, after selling some of its aircraft last year.
• Air Taraba’s EMB145 has received its livery (without titles yet) at Bournemouth; the aircraft will be registered 5N-BOZ.
• A police helicopter (a Bell 427 that joined the fleet last year; 5N-POL) crashed near Jos on 14 March. The Airwing of the Nigerian Police also acquired a Cessna Citation XLS (5N-HAR) new last year.
• Shell has given Caverton Helicopters a loan of $85 million to upgrade its fleet with six AW139s. Caverton will from next month expand its operations to Cameroon, signing a five-year contract with the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company.
• Air France will resume flights from Lagos to Abuja from June 2012. It will be the airline’s third destination in Nigeria.
• Enugu Airport will be closed for traffic for three weeks from 18 March (now postponed to April), to enable the installation of runway lighting.
• Bauchi Airport has re-opened after a year of renovation works.
• Kano State Government has appealed to KLM to shelve plans to suspend operations at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
• FirstNation Airways have commenced a daily Abuja-Port Harcourt service from 14 March.
• Allied Air Cargo continues to lease two MD11Fs from World Airways along its own four B727Fs.
• Associated Aviation still operates an ERJ-145 (5N-BJM) leased from the Bauchi State government.
• MaxAir has acquired a Embraer Legacy 600 (M-ANGA) for its charter operations. The airline also operates a Learjet 45.

SkyBird Air - Dornier 328Jet

FG Approves New International Terminal At Kano Airport

The Federal Government awarded a N12 billion contract for the construction of a new international terminal at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA. According to Aviation Minister, Fidelia Njeze, the current terminal is dilapidated and obsolete.

The domestic terminal at Kano Airport reportedly opened in November last year, after ten years of construction.

NAF Chengdu F-7NI Crashes

A Nigerian Air Force Chengdu F-7NI fighter  aircraft crashed at Kano military airport killing the pilot. The aircraft failed to lift off from the runway the military flight school shares with Kano’s Mallam Aminu International Airport around 12:30. The plane crashed while still on the airport’s ground and immediately exploded. Click here for the press release from the NAF.

NAF - Chengdu FT-7NI Airguard (Copyright Ken Iwelumo)

New Arik Air Route: Kano-Enugu

Arik Air announced a three weekly direct Kano-Enugu service starting on 1 April 2011. Flights are operated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with a B737-700.

• W3405 KAN-ENU 14:35-15:55
• W3406 ENU-KAN 16:25-17:45

This Week’s Update

A few bits of news:

• The first international flight from Akwa Ibom Airport, Uyo, will be operated on 8 January 2011. Sky Airlines will operate the charter flight and carry 215 Christian pilgrims to Tel Aviv, Israel, with a B737-900. An A330-200 will carry another 324 pilgrims next week. This is the first widebody airline to land in Uyo.
• IRS Airlines will acquire three more F100s this year and intends to open the Abuja-Calabar route. Calabar would be the airline’s eight domestic destination.
• The FAAN has acquired 5 fire tenders for Lagos Airport, new toilets have been installed at the airport, and the agency promised to boost power supply.
• The FAAN also increased security measures at the airports throughout Nigeria.
• The new domestic terminal building of Mallam Aminu International Airport, Kano, will be commissioned on 27 January 2011.
• Ekiti State has to speed up the commencement of work on the new Ekiti Airport.
• Arik Air aims to consolidate its position in the new year and expand a little bit in West-Africa. The airline also hopes to carry Christian pilgrims from Enugu Airport to Israel.
• Air India may resume flights from Mumbai to Lagos this year, meanwhile China Southern has again cancelled the announced Guangzhou-Dubai-Lagos service.

Air Nigeria Announces Lagos-Kano and Abuja-Port Harcourt

Air Nigeria has announced that it will soon re-open the Lagos-Kano route and also commence direct flights between Abuja and Port Harcourt. The airline took delivery of its sixth B733 (5N-VNG) this week.

Nigeria To Refurbish Five Major Airports

Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze, said the Federal Government has approved the remodelling of five major airports to international standards. The project will cost about N90 billion. The remodelling will involve the construction of new runways and the total upgrade of all the terminal buildings at Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt. The Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, is already closed since February 2010 for a complete renovation.

Some International Flight Frequencies

AirFrance

• Paris – Lagos – Port Harcourt: 7 weekly

British Airways

• London LHR – Lagos: 7 weekly
• London LHR – Abuja: 7 weekly

Delta Air Lines

• Atlanta-Abuja (via Accra): 2 weekly per 1 September 2010
• Atlanta-Lagos: decreased to 5 weekly
• New York JFK – Abuja: 3 weekly till 31 August 2010.

Emirates

• Dubai – Lagos: 14 weekly

Ethiopian Airlines

• Addis Ababa – Abuja – Accra: increase from 3 to 4 weekly
• Addis Ababa – Lagos: decrease from 10 weekly to daily

KLM

• Amsterdam – Abuja – Kano: 3 weekly
• Amsterdam – Lagos: 7 weekly

Lufthansa

• Frankfurt – Abuja – Port Harcourt: 4 weekly
• Frankfurt – Abuja – Malabo: 3 weekly
• Frankfurt – Lagos: 7 weekly

Qatar Airways

• Doha – Lagos: 7 weekly

Turkish Airlines

• Istanbul – Lagos – Accra: 3 weekly

Aero Adds Kano Per July 19

Aero will commence non-stop Lagos-Kano-Lagos flights on Monday, 19 July 2010. It is a daily service according to the following schedule:

• LOS-KAN AJ141 11:30-13:15
• KAN-LOS AJ142 13:45-15:30

Small Plane Makes Emergency Landing Near Kano

A Tampico TB-9 training aircraft belonging to NCAT made an emergency landing at a Katoge village, about 20 kilometres away from Kano. Three occupants of escaped unhurt and the aircraft was not badly damaged. The aircraft was to land in Zaria but could not do so due to heavy downpour in the late afternoon. It therefore diverted to Kano Airport, but developed technical problems and was forced to make an emergency landing.

This Week’s Update

The Arik Air B737 (5N-MJJ) involved in the incident at Calabar was ferried to Lagos for inspection and repair. The damage turns out to be less worse than thought.

Chanchangi Airlines has only one operational aircraft at the moment. All other aircraft are grounded or abroad for maintenance checks. The airline has serious financial problems too.

Airlines in Nigeria threatened to stop operations on in the coming week. This decision was made after the NAMA management issued a ‘Pay before Departure’ memo to airlines in Nigeria mandating them to clear their navigational charges on ‘cash and carry’ basis effective from April 9, as most airlines have become ‘perpetual debtors’ to the agency. For instance, Arik Air allegedly is indebted to the NAMA to the tune of $1.5million.

The first two 3D body scanners are being installed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, by the Federal Government.

According to unconfirmed reports Kabo Air suspended its scheduled flights to Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah.

Sudan Airways has resumed operations to Kano Airport this week.

Overland Airways’ New Schedule

Overland Airways made some changes to its flight schedule:

• The Jos-Kano service has been dropped; Abuja-Jos-Abuja reduced to two weekly flights;
• Frequencies from Abuja to Katsina and Minna and from Lagos to Minna reduced from five to three weekly flights;
• New hub at Ilorin with five weekly flights to Abuja, Ibadan, Lagos and Minna.

This small airline seems to be stable and doing well compared to other Nigerian carriers.

Overland Airways' ATR-42 (5N-BCR) At Ilorin Airport (Copyright C.H.W.)

Nigerian Eagle Drops Kano and Owerri

Nigerian Eagle (formerly Virgin Nigeria) dropped two domestic destinations from its schedule. Kano and Owerri are no longer served by the airline, reducing the number of domestic destinations to four.

Nigerian Eagle Airlines also made changes to its regional flight schedule, but maintained its eight destinations for now.

New International Flights To Nigeria

Delta Air Lines

A three weekly service from New York JFK to Abuja will substitute the current B757 service via Dakar this summer (31 June 2010 – 31 August 2010). Flight will be operated with a B767.

• DL036 JFK1605 – ABV 767 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
• DL037 ABV1055 – JFK (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

The Atlanta-Lagos service will be reduced from the earlier announced seven to six weekly flights with a B777.

EgyptAir

EgyptAir will increase its flights from Cairo to Abuja from two to four weekly according to its summer schedule. New flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

MEA – Middle East Airlines – Air Liban

MEA will operate the following routes this summer:

• Mondays: Beirut — Lagos — Abidjan v.v.
• Tuesdays: Beirut — Kano — Abidjan v.v.
• Wednesdays: Beirut — Lagos — Accra v.v.
• Fridays: Beirut — Lagos — Abidjan v.v.

Incidents At Kano And Lagos

An unconfirmed report says that a MEA A330 yesterday damaged its left winglet after taxiing into Kabo Air’s B747-200 (5N-JRM). The second aircraft suffered some damage too. The airport is full of parked aircraft at Kano and it appears that the tarmac was badly lighted.

Earlier this week, on Monday, an AirFrance B777 aborted take-off at Lagos Airport because of a technical problem, resulting in a burst tire.

Is Virgin Nigeria Back? – New Lagos-Kano Schedule

Since Virgin Nigeria was renamed Nigerian Eagle Airlines few things changed, except that four planes were repainted. Even on its own website, the airline uses both names. More confusing is that the airlines has a Virgin Nigeria-website and a Fly Nigerian-website, with different flight schedules. This should be an issue that can be easily solved, but it looks like they are sticking to the Virgin Nigeria name.

The airline update its schedules and added new flights on the Lagos-Kano-Lagos route:

• LOS-KAN – VK31 – 07:10-08:50 (Monday till Saturday)
• KAN-LOS – VK30 – 18:20-20:00 (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays)
• KAN-LOS – VK30 – 18:40-20:20 (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays)