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

MaxAir To Lift 36,000 Hajj Pilgrims

MaxAir announced it will fly 36,000 pilgrims (43% of the total number) to Saudi Arabia this year, following the allocation by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON). The airline will use its three B743 aircraft for the operation and keep a fourth as standby aircraft.

Kabo Air, Meridian Airlines and Medview Airline will be responsible for carrying the remaining Hajj pilgrims. Meridian and Medview will have to wet-lease aircraft for this end, while Kabo Air may employ its B742 aircraft.

Hajj Carriers 2010

The Federal Government has approved Kabo Air, MaxAir, Meridian Airlines and Medview Airline as official carriers to airlift Nigerian pilgrims during the Hajj of 2010.

This Week’s Update

• IRS Airlines has a booking website again.
• Arik Air postponed the introduction of the A332 due to regulatory issues.
• Air Nigeria’s first newly branded aircraft (5N-VND) returned to Lagos last week. Jimoh Ibrahim declared that in a few weeks, the airline would have liquidated all its debts. Air Nigeria also announced it will add five aircraft to its fleet before October.
• The Bangladesh Ministry of Aviation blocked the extension of the lease of a Kabo Air B747-200 by Biman.
• A Max Air B747-300 carrying Ghanaian football fans was grounded at Johannesburg after it entered South African airspace without approval.

Tradecraft Air – New Charter Airline?

Last year an airline called Tradecraft Air (sometimes referred to as Trade Craft Air) was designated to carry pilgrims from Ilorin and Lagos to Jeddah. Reportedly, the company used two leased B767s. Tradecraft Air now appears to have acquired a B767-300 of its own. This means that the airline joins Kabo Air and MaxAir as pilgrims charter carrier in Nigeria.

Update: it’s an ex-Delta B767-300 (serial 23436).

MaxAir B737-200

Apparently, MaxAir also operates a B732 (5N-BLY). This airplane is very likely an ex-Nigerian Airways (5N-ANY (cn 22773/893)) aircraft and sold by Arik Air to MaxAir.

Nigerian Hajj Airlines (2009)

Four Nigerian charter airlines are operating the annual hajj flights from various Nigerian airports to Saudi Arabia:

• Kabo Air: 3xB742 (5N-MAD, 5N-DKB, and 5N-JRM)
• MaxAir: 4xB743 (5N-BMG, 5N-DBM, 5N-DDK, and 5N-MBB)
• Med-View Airline: 2xB763 and 1xL1011 (leased from Euroatlantic Airways)
• Meridian Airlines: 1xB743 (from an unidentified lessor)

Note: Kabo Air also wet-leases a B763 from Icelandair for scheduled operations from Abuja and Kano to Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah.