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 In 2010, a contract for the construction of a new runway awarded to Julius Berger for $423 million was revoked because of the high cost.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.

Expansion of Port Harcourt airport terminal

Expansion work has begun at Port Harcourt airport last month, with the aim of extending the departure hall to accommodate 1500 passengers. It seems that the plan to build a whole new terminal has been postponed, although a proposal for a new terminal was made. The runway of Port Harcourt airport was renovated in 2007-2008.

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

Dana Air Resumes Flights To Port Harcourt

Dana Air announced it will resume flights from Lagos (twice daily) and Abuja (daily) to Port Harcourt per 28 March 2011.

• 9J347 LOS-PHC 07:20-08:39
• 9J346 PHC-LOS 09:18-10:35
• 9J345 LOS-PHC 16:20-17:37
• 9J344 PHC-LOS 18:00-19:20
• 9J1996 ABV-PHC 15:15-16:20
• 9J1997 PHC-ABV 16:55-17:55

False Bomb Threat On Arik Air Flight

Arik Air’s early morning flight from Port Harcourt to Lagos was disrupted this morning by a bomb scare. A passenger received a text message during boarding at the airport that an explosive was planted in the aircraft. The threat proved to be false after a search of the aircraft and re-screening of the passengers.

Aero Increases Frequencies To Abuja And Port Harcourt

Per 7 February 2010, Aero will add a flight from Lagos to Abuja as well as to Port Harcourt on weekdays. The airline will have eight daily return flights from Lagos to Abuja and five from Lagos to Port Harcourt from Monday to Friday. The new flights are:

• AJ129 LOS-ABV 11:30-12:50
• AJ128 ABV-LOS 13:20-14:40
• AJ319 LOS-PHC 15:10-16:25
• AJ320 PHC-LOS 16:55-18:10

Chanchangi Adds Lagos-Port Harcourt

Chanchangi Airlines resumed flights from Lagos to Port Harcourt and also announced the resumption of the Lagos-Kaduna route. No flight schedules have been published online though. The airline already operates Lagos-Abuja flights with two B733s (JY-JAD and JY-JAO) wet-leased from Jordan Aviation.

Air Nigeria Increases Frequencies To Port Harcourt

Air Nigeria announced it will increase its number of daily flights from Lagos to Port Harcourt from three to five by December 15, 2010. Also a new twice daily Abuja-Port Harcourt service will be introduced on the same date.

This Week’s Update

A few short updates:

• Aero has postponed plans to operate commercial flights from its Lagos private terminal, after protests from Bi-Courtney, the owner of MMA2.
• Air Nigeria will commence flights from Lagos to Kano via Abuja on 2 November 2010.
• The Nigerian Police took delivery of a new Bell 412 helicopter (5N-LEH) this week. It also operates 5N-KSH.
• The Bauchi State Embraer 145 (5N-BJM) is now leased to Associated Aviation.
• Biman Bangladesh was barred by its government from leasing a 26-year-old B742 from Kabo Air for the Hajj flights.
• A Gabon based airline called RegionAir now offers flights from Port Harcourt to Douala, Port Gentil, Pointe Noire and Luanda. The airline intends to add Calabar and Malabo to its network shortly.
• Reportedly, permission was granted to Asky Airlines to start flights from/to Lagos per 31 October 2010.

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.

Aero Makes Changes To Schedule

Aero announced it will increase its frequencies from Lagos to Abuja and Port Harcourt to eight and five daily flights respectively, effective October 1, 2010.

From the 17th of October, Aero’s flights from Lagos to Warri (Osubi Airstrip) and Port Harcourt NAF Base will no longer depart from the MMA2 domestic terminal, but will be operated from Aero’s private terminal at Lagos Airport.

The launch of international services to Libreville has been put on hold.

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

Dana Air Suspends Flights to Port Harcourt

Dana Air appears to have suspended its daily service from Lagos to Port Harcourt as flights are no longer bookable.

The airline announced that it will offer special in-flight service to Muslim guests on all its domestic routes from August 11 to September 11, in acknowledgment of the Ramadan. It consists of special meal packages so that travellers who observe the daytime fasting can take their in-flight meals with them.

This Week’s Update

Some bits of news over the past week:

• Arik Air will operate a B737-800 on the Lagos-London route till 25 May 2010, due to maintenance on the A345.
• After the rift with the Akwa Ibom State Government, Arik Air now angered the River State Government, after the airline published a negative report about security in Port Harcourt in its in-house magazine The Winds, calling it an unsafe destination. Arik Air terminated its flights to Port Harcourt NAF Base earlier this year, but still flies to Port Harcourt International Airport.
• The Minister of Aviation organised a meeting between Aero and Oceanic Bank to find an amicable solution for the debt issue. In the meantime, Aero is operating all its (helicopter) flights according to schedule again.
• The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) reached an agreement with the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) about the payment of debts by the airlines to the agency. Arik Air reportedly paid N50 million as part of a payment plan.
• Virgin Nigeria (briefly known as Nigerian Eagle Airlines) issued a statement, but no further comments were made on the announced name change of the airline.
• VistaJet is expanding in Nigeria. It already has two aircraft based in Lagos and concluded a three-year agreement with Nigerian businessman Kola Aluko.
• The Nigerian Air Force will build a new aircraft maintenance hangar at Ilorin Airport.
• Keep an eye on the website of the NAF for updates on the Air Expo that will be held next week at Kaduna.
• The Senate Committee on Aviation has called for a review of the N64 billion ($426 million) contract for a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The price is ‘far too high, way too expensive and outrageous’, according to the lawmakers.

NAF G.222 Skids Of Runway At Port Harcourt

A Nigerian Aeritalia G.222 (NAF 950) skidded off the runway at Port Harcourt Airport on Friday, 12 March 2010, during a mock rescue excercise. There were 52 passengers onboard the aircraft. Ten of them were injured and the aircraft was badly damaged.

Here is some more information about the Nigerian G.222s.

Arik Air Drops Port Harcourt NAF Base

Arik Air no longer flies to Port Harcourt NAF Base (or the Garden City Terminal als they call it). All Arik’s flights to Lagos and Abuja are now operated from Port Harcourt International Airport. Arik Air dropped eight destinations in less than a month time, although the routes are only on ‘temporary suspension’ according to the airline.

Aero still operates flights from Port Harcourt NAF Base to Lagos and Warri.

This Week’s Round-Up

Just a few minor reports:

Chanchangi Airlines reduced its daily flights between Lagos and Abuja from five to three. The schedule on their website has not been updated however. Reportedly, the airline has serious financial problems.

Bellview Airlines has postponed the re-start of its Lagos-London service to 1 March, 2010. Again, the airline has sold tickets without being able to provide any flights.

An EMB-170 (PT-TQE) destined for Nigerian Eagle Airlines as 5N-VNJ has been ferried from Brazil to Casablanca. It’s unlikely Nigerian Eagle Airlines will take delivery of the aircraft though, as it wil reportedly be leased to Gulf Air.

Nigerian Eagle Airlines introduced special onboard envelopes on flights across its route network this week to raise funds to support the ongoing humanitarian and rescue activities in Haiti.

The governor of Gombe State announced that a second airline will start daily services to Gombe Airport this year. Arik Air currently has a four weekly service from Abuja to Gombe.

The World Bank financed ten fire trucks for Port Harcourt Airport, but overall the Nigerian agencies are slow in implementing other aviation infrastructure projects.

The new Asaba Airport, Delta State, will be ready for operations in April 2010.

Jos Airport was closed this week due to civil unrest. Aero, Arik Air and Overland Airways cancelled their flights to the airport.

Dana Air Twice Daily To Port Harcourt

Dana Air doubled its daily flights on the Lagos-Port Harcourt route:

• LOS-PHC 09:27-10:35
• PHC-LOS 12:15-13:15
• LOS-PHC 15:03-16:20 (except on Fridays)
• PHC-LOS 17:10-18:25 (except on Fridays)

The airline reports a 74% load factor on the busy Lagos-Abuja route. Dana Air operates six return flights daily on this route.