new flights to Lagos and Botswana

The thrice weekly flights will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays in partnership with Air Botswana.

Kenya Airways will launch flights to Botswana in September this year. This will help locals and tourists connect from Gaborone to the rest of Africa, Europe, Far East and the Middle East via Nairobi.

Kenya Airway's Boeing 737 and 700 will touch down at Sir Seretese Khama International Airport, offering sixteen Premier World Business class seats and economy cabins of 100 and 129 respectively.

Gaborone becomes the 35th African destination in the KQ network with recent additions being Libreville, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville. In addition to this, Kenya Airways has revamped its schedule to provide greater flexibility to its traveler. Johannesburg currently enjoys three frequencies per day, while Lusaka, Lagos and Accra boasting daily frequencies.

New cheap flights to Lagos and west central Africa

Lufthansa air is adding another new destination to its network, expanding its services in west and central Africa. Beginning July 15, 2009, the airline will fly five times per week from Frankfurt via Accra, Ghana to Libreville, the capital of Gabon. The route will be operated by Airbus A340 and A330 aircraft with a first-, business-, and economy-class cabin.

“With the latest addition of Libreville, Lufthansa now offers customers flights to 16 destinations across Africa,” said Karl-Ulrich Garnadt, executive vice president of Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. “We are thus continuing to pursue our strategy of integrating all the key growth markets in Africa into our network.”

Gabon has extensive petroleum and manganese reserves and is an important exporter of timber. Through its trade in raw materials with companies in the United States, China, and Europe, the country has an above-average GDP. Gabon lies on the Atlantic coast of central Africa and straddles the equator. The capital, Libreville, a port city with a population of more than half a million, is the country’s economic and political center.

“Our route network is growing steadily, particularly in west and central Africa,” Karl Ulrich Garnadt explained. “Only last year, we added two new destinations – Malabo in Equatorial Guinea and the Angolan capital Luanda – to our schedule. A few weeks ago, we increased our frequencies to Angola to two flights per week.”

In addition, from July 1, 2009, Lufthansa will be serving Accra five times a week non-stop, rather than with a stopover in Lagos, Nigeria. Including the SWISS destinations Douala and Yaounde (both in Cameroon), Lufthansa customers have a choice of 31 flights per week to eight destinations in this dynamic economic region in west and central Africa.

Johannesburg - Lagos flights

The Managing Director, of the Arik airline, Mr. Mike McTighe, said at a press conference in Lagos that it had secured all approvals necessary for the commencement of the flights.

On Monday, said it would commence a non-stop daily flights between Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa, its second long haul international destination, by June 1.

He said, “This is a particularly exciting development for all travellers between Lagos and Johannesburg. Our service will be operated with a newly acquired Airbus A340-500 aircraft. This allows us to offer our on-board guests the very highest levels of in-flight service.

“The airline’s first A340-500 is proving popular on its daily service between Lagos and London Heathrow. This second new airbus is configured in the same spacious layout with 36 seats in premier class and 201 seats in economy class.”

According to him, the flights will depart from the Murtala Muhammed International, Airport, Lagos, at 21.35pm local time and arrive Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, at 04.50am the following morning.

McTighe said that the return flight would depart Johannesburg at 1.45pm local time, and arrive Lagos at 7.00pm local time on the same day.

“With our attractive on-board product, Arik is very proud to be able to now offer our service to customers wishing to travel between Lagos and Johannesburg.

“Guests in premier class will enjoy luxurious leather-upholstered seats that convert into fully flat 75-inch long beds, a state-of-the-art personal video- and audio-on-demand entertainment system and a wide 17-inch personal TV screen. Guests will also have their own in-flight bar area in which to relax,” he stated.

McTighe said its economy cabin’s seat-back entertainment, which comes in a 2-4-2 seat layout provides each guest with up to 50 per cent more legroom than competitors, saying, no passenger would be more than one seat away from the aisle.

The Arik boss also exuded confidence that the airline’s schedule would prove popular with its future customers in South Africa .

Arik will be competing against Bellview and South Africa Airways currently operating on the route. Virgin Nigeria suspended flights on the route early this year, citing economic reasons.

renting out flights to foreign carrier

Kingfisher Airlines going to rent out at least two of its five long-haul A330-223 aircraft to Nigerian carrier Arik Air Ltd for two years from the third quarter of 2009.

This indicates that the Mumbai-based carrier’s expansion plans into Europe and the US remain uncertain. It sold two of its long-haul, Airbus SAS-made A340s to Arik Air late last year when it was scheduled to take deliveries of 10 other aircraft to start international operations.

Kingfisher Airlines, India’s largest private carrier by passengers, launched only a few international flights with five of the A330s deliveries it accepted.

“All it says is that Kingfisher will not expand in the long-haul sector for at least two years,” a London-based analyst said on condition of anonymity. “It will continue to expand in the region and I expect flights to start to Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu and the Middle East in the next 18 months.”

The Arik Air lease will start almost a year after the two A330s, valued at list prices of $180.9 million (Rs862 crore) each, have been grounded.

Rival domestic carrier Jet Airways (India) Ltd has given nine wide-body aircraft on lease to West Asian carriers but for much shorter time.

The analyst added that the leases were an indication that Kingfisher may expand regionally unless there are drastic changes in the international market.

This year, Kingfisher has started flights to Colombo and Dhaka using its domestic fleet of ATR planes. It also has government approval to fly to Chittagong, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and plans to start an all-economy service between Bangalore and Dubai from 25 June using an Airbus A320.

On the back of a slowing economy, India’s airline firms have been facing tough times and on 13 May reported a drop of around 15% in passenger traffic in April from the year ago, showing that a contraction in air travel that began end-2007 is nowhere near ending.

At least 2,500 airline employees are expected to lose their jobs in the next four-six months from domestic carriers that are set to post a combined loss of $2 billion in 2008-09, according to airline executives and analysts, Mint reported on 3 May. This is about 8% of the total workforce employed by private carriers.

Lagos-headquartered Arik Air, which began operations in 2006, started its first intercontinental flights between London and Lagos in December using the two A340s it bought from Kingfisher. The airline is yet to make up its mind whether to buy another of Kingfisher A340s but said it would rent the A330s.

“At present we are confirmed taking two of the Kingfisher A340s. We are still considering (buying) the third aircraft,” an Arik Air spokesperson said by email.

Typically, an airline earns $2-2.2 million a month on leasing a wide-body aircraft on wet lease. A wet lease is an arrangement where one airline provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline, which pays by hours operated. The latter provides fuel, covers airport fees and any other duties and taxes.

If a deal is a dry lease, usually for 18-24 months, the rent is typically $1-1.2 million a month.

The wet lease will mean that Kingfisher-trained pilots and cabin crew, in conjunction with Arik Air cabin crew, will help run the new flights that will be launched by the Nigerian carrier, the Arik Air spokesperson said.

Emirates increased its Africa flights

Emirates has continued its services into Africa, with plans to commence operations into the Angolan capital of Luanda. The new operations which starts on August 2, 2009, would make Luanda the airline's 17th destination on the continent.

The route would be the second to be opened in Africa flights within just two weeks, as the airline had earlier announced Durban as another African destination it would be flying into with effect from October 1, 2009.

According to the airline, the thrice weekly Luanda flights will allow Angola to further embrace international trade by being brought into the six continent-wide Emirates' network.
Emirates said an Airbus A330-200 would serve the route, which will help support the nation's oil-led boom, the emerging tourism market and the thousands of migrant workers, many of whom are from China.

Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said: "This new Luanda flight provides enormous potential to develop flights into Angola , alongside the assistance we can provide for international trade through Emirates SkyCargo.

"In the past year, we have seen strong growth in Africa of 17%. Now, with Luanda starting in August and Durban flights starting later in the year, this is going to be another very exciting year in this largely untapped continent." Angola, around five times the size of the UK , lies on the Atlantic coast of south-central Africa. It is the continent's second largest oil exporter after Nigeria .

With four major ports along an expansive coastline, the nation is a natural transhipment point for the region. The country has abundant natural resources including oil, diamonds, gold, iron, copper and uranium.

The airline said the timing of the flight from Dubai into Luanda would allow good connectivity, with arrivals from Emirates' points in Asia and Australia. Meanwhile, the flight coming into Dubai, according to Emirates, provides smooth connectivity with all flights to Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

It added that Emirates SkyCargo would provide up to 12 tonnes of cargo capacity in the bellyhold of each aircraft with imports expected to include consumer goods, electronics, telecommunications products and oil related equipment and spares. Perishables, such as fruit and flowers, are expected to feature amongst exports.

Dubai-based Emirates started flights to Lagos Africa in 1986, serving Cairo. Around 4,000 Africans are now employed throughout the Emirates Group.Since establishing itself as an airline in 1985, Emirates has rapidly expanded into a major transcontinental travel and tourism conglomerate. The airline now flies to six continents with a fleet of 132 aircraft, including four double-decker A380s.

New direct flights to Kenya

Delta Air has announced, it will start commercial flights from the United States to Kenya on June 3.

Delta Air will start flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport via Dakar, Senegal.

The flights to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will ease travel between Kenya and United States and help increase Kenyan exports and tourists from US.

Delta’s commercial manager for West and East Africa, Bobby Bryan, said the new flights would ease connections between the two countries and between Nairobi and Senegal.

"The launch of new flights to Nairobi is very important to Delta, as it continues its African expansion," he said at a news conference in Nairobi, yesterday.

The new four-time weekly flights — using a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with up to 216 seats — would be the only direct service to the US from Kenya.

Delta operates flights from Cairo, Accra, Dakar, Cape Town, Johannesburg and cheap Lagos flights. Confirmation of the commencement of the flight coincided with an announcement by local aviation authorities that US had certified the quality of its operations.

Dana Air is the best for 2009

Dana Air has been declared the best ICT-driven airline of the year at the National ICT Merit Award (NIMA) held in Lagos.
NIMA is an annual ICT award organised by Technology Africa in recognition of individuals and organisations at the forefront of technology deployment and adoption in the country.

Managing Consultant of Technology Africa, Mr Don Pedro Aganbi, said the airline was chosen because of its early deployment of ICT solutions.He said: “Dana Air was chosen as the recipient of the Best ICT Driven Airline award, despite being a new entrant in the aviation industry, because of its early deployment of ICT solutions.

“The introduction of e-booking and payment services by the airline is proof of the airline’s commitment to passenger convenience and comfort, and deserves to be complimented.”

Dana Air had its inaugural Africa flights on October 10, 2008 and the recent award coincides with the completion of its 150 days of scheduled flight operations. The airline currently operates 10 flights daily on the Lagos-Abuja-Lagos flights and is set to commence operations on the Lagos-Enugu-Lagos flights.

Chief Executive Officer of Dana Air, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, acknowledged the award as ‘humbling, especially being a new airline in the country.’ He re-iterated the airline’s commitment to the provision of world-class air transport services to Nigerians and assured that the airline would continue to explore new and exciting ways of making its passengers’ flying experience more pleasurable, deploying the latest technologies.

Plans are also in top gear to extend operations to the cities of Kano and Port-Harcourt.
A subsidiary of Dana Group of Companies, Dana Airlines is Nigeria’s first new world carrier, offering premium services at an affordable rate.

Lufthansa Adds Astral's Africa

New agreement with Etihad Crystal Cargo, Nairobi, Kenya-based Astral Aviation has now been signed a deal with Lufthansa Cargo.

Lufthansa currently flies an MD11 four times a week to Nairobi on the way to Johannesburg. Astral will now on-carry to five African countries using a mixed freighter fleet of DC9s, F27s and Antonov 12s.

Astral will be providing direct flights to Bujumbura, Burundi; Zanzibar, Dar Es Salaam and Mwanza in Tanzania; Juba and Khartoum, Sudan; Entebbe, Uganda; and Kigali, Rwanda.

Last month, Lufthansa’s joint venture Jade Cargo began twice-weekly flights from Shanghai with a 747-400 freighter via Chennai in India to Sharjah, UAE and Lagos, Nigeria.

A Romance With Revolution?

I have just returned from Nigeria fuming and furious. "So what?" You may want to ask. That is what we experience each year when we go through the hustle and bustle of Nigeria's hard life. You start from the airport with the friendly immigration officer asking you "What did you bring for us?" You pass through the customs checkpoint. It's a hustling task when they figure out that you are not frequently in Nigeria trading on contrabands. The rest is routine when you finally end up in the heat of the day away from the feeble air-conditioning system of Murtala Muhammed Airport.

We return from Nigeria fuming and furious. Same procedure as every year! This year though, I was mad at the system. Never before have I come to accept the notion that the only way forward for Nigeria is a revolution. A popular uprising! Ask anyone who knows Nigeria - from Nigerians to sympathizers! All you hear is that the country needs a revolution. Ask Nigerians in Nigeria. Hear the anger about the politics of geographical divide and tactical repositioning. Hear the many journalists and intellectuals who are disappointed at the one last hope they see in individual politicians. Many speak out clearly about the impending collapse of the Nigerian project. Many pray for coup d'etat and many hope for a spontaneous uprising. Indeed many worked towards one on the exit of Olusegun Obasanjo.

I returned from Nigeria fuming and furious strongly believing that the time has come to stage a revolution. The long expressway from Lagos to Benin in its dilapidated state with bumpy holes and scores of extorting police checkpoints was not my problem. No. You can scale through it these days, with regular flights connecting the nation. The deadbeat power sector and the incessant power cut that hardly gives you a breathing space was not my problem. No. Kwara state now seems to be signaling a way out with its state financing of the gas powered system initiated by the Obasanjo administration. Kwara state has been able to celebrate one good month of Uninterrupted Power Supply. Water supply is not the problem because the drilling of boreholes has provided us the badly needed respite these days.

I returned from Nigeria straight into witnessing the meeting of the G20 group of Nations and swallowed the pride that once characterized the stature of the Giant of Africa that was christened in the 1970s.

The G20 is the group of the world's Top-20 economically viable nations. An offshoot of the G7 that was hitherto the group of most industrialized economies. The G7 was once elevated to the group of 8 in the admittance of the Russian Republic. Today G20 stretches from Brazil, through China to South Africa. South Africa like Nigeria has been laying claims to a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council whenever an expansion of the apex body is up for grabs. Today we know that Nigeria has no justification of any sort for claiming to have the credentials to represent Africa with a ramshackle economy built on a foundation of sand.

The years were promising after independence. Former military leader General Yakubu Gowon once proclaimed that "Money is not our problem but how to spend it." That was way back in the seventies and the strength of Nigeria then was not systematic development planning alone. Popular mindset was focused on development as well.

The infrastructures seemed to have been set on a progressive footing. It could only get steadily better. That was before Nigeria got plunged into a futile experiment in democracy headed by a Phantom of the Opera named Shehu Shagari who was left colorless and surrounded by hounds and thieves of the greatest order. One prominent name was a Transport Minister in monumental corruption. His name was Dikko. Umaru Dikko.

Today we have another Umaru in a shift of gear and positions. This time in the person of a President as colorless as ever! He is not known for corruption but hardly does his best to bring corruption in the periphery to its utmost minimum.

If the G20 was further expanded today, Ghana would join the fold. Many micro-states that looked up to Nigeria years ago, for their own economic survival have now left us in a position of the artistic mimicry of economic realities.

Our leaders remain blind and insensitive. They advocate the removal of subsidies on fuel knowing the domino impact it will have on public life. They leave refineries in scruffy states pouring wealth on several years of fuel importation leaving us with the promising memories of years in which money was not the problem. Our leaders choose to import power generators to power a whole city rather than take on the task of consolidating a power sector.

Three basic and simple infrastructures - power, water, road network - that we needed for development have now become the single basis of our continued backward drift. Foreign investors pull out of Nigeria heading for neighboring states citing the state of our infrastructures. Umaru man is like non-existent. Men of action that stirred up hope in the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo have been replaced by managers of depletion. No more Iwealas, Ribadus or El-Rufais. The virtue of meritocracy does not seem to exist in any Nigerian dictionary. Not even the office of the governor of the Central Bank is spared the ethnic debate. Two years on, what seems to count under Umaru man seems to be ethnicity and hardly capability. Power shift from South to North and perpetually!

I came from Nigeria fuming and furious truly believing that the time was now ripe for a revolution. I took my keyboard and began typing my message. I called on Nigerians to take up arms. Arise and topple the system. I hate a military coup because the end would be unpredictable and power may end in the wrong hands. There will be no assurance of a Rawlings impact. I thought of the Orange revolution - Ukrainian style - and the tactic of organizing local committees under Union auspices to lay the groundwork for a long-term revolution.

I came from Nigeria fuming and furious but soon realized I needed a deep breath. Crucify me and condemn my stance for all I care. But the truth is one more thing that stands loud and clear.

A revolution we need! But what if we truly had a revolution? When I had a second thought though, the aftermath of a revolution even gave me even more jitters.

I took a closer look at Ukraine. I took a closer look at Georgia. Where are the assurances that Nigeria would be different? The easiest part of the equation may lie in the planning of a revolution and the culminating festive mood of history in the making, no matter the potential loss of lives.

Revolutions usually commence with hopes. High hopes and dreams of a lofty future. The end in almost all cases is disappointment. When lives are lost, they go in vain to serve the dreams of the new ruling class. The dream was hijacked in Ukraine in the post-orange era. The dream was hijacked in Georgia and many more countries like it. Nigeria may be worse.

The volatility of Nigeria lies in its ethnic multiplicity that hardly leaves room for a cohesive bond to foster collectivity. Czechoslovakia split up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the aftermath of a revolution. Ukraine is overtly and potentially locked in the risk of regional splits along "pro and anti-Russian" lines. What would Nigeria look like?

Are we doomed? Are we cursed? What do we do? Where do we head?

I am back from Nigeria fuming and furious. I ask myself if today's President of Nigeria can sincerely claim to have the interest of Nigeria at heart or the interest of the north. What has Umaru Musa Yar A'dua achieved in two years than shifting the balance of geographical distribution in political power?

The dire state of destruction is biting deeper. Corruption continues to thrive while the viable anti-corruption dragon was chased to the vampires. Smaller states are teasing and jeering at Nigeria. If Obasanjo disappointed hopes invested in him Yar A'dua is turning out to be killing hopes in broad daylight.

Incompetence, inconsistencies and outright betrayal of national trust are cladded in unguided and unplanned pronouncements. "Emergency in the Power Sector" - a mirage! "Reform of electoral process" - mockery of Uwais! Many more examples expose the pathetic mindset of the present administration.

In a world, in which a government consistently sets itself the worst of all priorities in absolute insensitivity to the troubles of the masses, it is questionable if governmental actions are not in themselves the real incitement to rebellion and treasonable felony.

Fashola has demonstrated a considerable image of what it takes when a government sets out to act. Is this any example for the chaps in Abuja?

What second term does Yar A'dua seek? Sickness aside! Ethnicity aside! Does the interest of the nation matter at all?

Revolution is a solution. It may also quickly become a problem in itself for the cohesion of a promising nation. If it does happen though and Nigeria is plunged into an existential quagmire, the politicians will be to blame and the government of Umaru Musa Yar A'dua will not share the least

Focus turns to African market opportunity

Nigerian carrier Arik Air is on the lookout for more long-haul aircraft as it presses ahead with its international development unswayed by the economic crisis enveloping the globe.

The carrier's optimism is based on the growth opportunity it sees within Nigeriaand Africa, potential which has also caught the eye of other carriers keen to deploy capacity in a region relatively unscathed by the financial crisis.

"Nigeria has not been insulated [from the crisis]," explains Arik Air International managing director Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, "It's a cash economy, so we haven't felt the exacerbated feeling like the credit-dependent economies, but we haven't been excluded from it."

He says Arik'sdomestic and regional operations have not seen any weakening and its first international service, linking flights to Lagos to London Heathrow, is performing ahead of its expectations.

Arik began London flights in December, launching an ambitious international development plan which will see it add flights to Johannesburg and New York JFK flights in the second and third quarters respectively and serve 11 international points within five years. The new routes will come on line when it takes its second and third of three Airbus A340-500s,sourced opportunistically by taking over a former Kingfisher Airlines order last year. Arik is also looking to lease two A330s and is again linked to Kingfisher, which is looking to lease out two A330s.

"We are still going ahead with our growth," says Arumemi-Ikhide. "The opportunity is very different from what is out there [today]. In Nigeria you have a position where the passengers are under-served, which is different from say the transatlantic market where there is overcapacity. It is a perfect scenario for growth."

The potential has not escaped the attention of other carriers, notably from the Middle East where many have been ramping up their presence. In Nigeria alone, Emirates doubled its Lagos service to twice-daily in February Qatar Airways is increasing to daily and deploying larger A340s on its Lagos flights, while Etihad is planning to add both Lagos and Abuja this year.

"Africa is very important for us," says Emirates senior vice-president for Africa, Salem Obaidalla. While noting Africa is not untouched by the financial crisis, he says: "We are starting to see some recovery and improvement in the bookings."

Increased Middle East carrier competition, aided by the granting of new fifth and sixth freedom rights, was cited by Virgin Nigeria as one of the factors in its decision to suspend its long-haul operations earlier this year. It had been operating on the Lagos-London Gatwick route, but will focus on domestic and regional routes until it can secure more modern long-haul aircraft to enable it to better compete at the front end.