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.

Tourism potentials source of foreign earnings

The MD Virgin Nigeria, Capt Dapo Olumide, has expressed the belief that tapping into the nation’s huge tourism potentials could be a major source of foreign earnings to the nation.

Olumide spoke today (10th June) in Lagos while receiving the Chairman, Tourism and Culture Committee of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kanayo G.B. Oguakwa.

According to him, “I believe that tourism can be a huge revenue earner in addition to oil, but that can only happen if well exploited. In the next ten years, with the price of oil falling steadily, I foresee tourism taking center stage in revenue earning projections.”

He noted in particular that the nation’s dependence on oil revenue earning, could be given a much needed boost if adequate energy and resources are plunged into exploiting the tourism sector.

Capt Olumide explained that a strong synergy exists between tourism and the aviation sector, explaining that available statistics show an inter-relationship in the support of travel destinations, as one aviation personnel promotes 10 jobs in the hotel sub sector of tourism.

“Nigeria tourism is a gold mine, from the Obudu Cattle Ranch to the Coal mines and slave trade routes across the country. We seriously need to develop the sector. Virgin Nigeria had on the onset of the Calabar Festival supported it, as well as the Argungu Fishing Festival; our flights helped develop that festival as a travel destination.

Hon. Oguakwu had earlier stressed the need for an improved synergy between air transport and tourism, agreeing that Virgin Nigeria had in the past four years integrated the various domestic and international tourism opportunities. He called for greater private and public sector collaboration in driving the message of the huge potential in the tourism sector.

Hon. Oguakwu also noted that the certification of Virgin Nigeria on the IOSA listing in just two years of its operation was a demonstration of the fact that it is a top of the range airline.

He further remarked that the de-branding of the Airline in the coming months would afford the airline and Nigerians the opportunity to reflect the proudly Nigerian track record of the company.

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.

Economic Meltdown effects

The brand management industry has been touched by current world economic recession in Nigeria on a positive note. This was the view of brand experts at a press conference held by Orange Academy recently in Lagos to mark the second anniversary of the organization.

Orange Academy, the first practically oriented advertising school in Nigeria, was established in 2007 by some advertising experts in the country to train university and polytechnic graduates in areas of copy writing, graphic design, strategic media planning among others. The academy, with foreign and local industry collaboration, has graduated more than 400 students and given a sizable number of awards to corporate organizations in Nigeria since its inception.

Speaking to journalists, the Chief Imagination Officer of the academy, Mr.Kenny Badmus noted that the economic meltdown has made brand managers across the globe recognize that advertising is not the only means of marketing communication. " The economic meltdown has brought us to the point where brand mangers have begun to notice that advertising is not the only solution to brand communication. As a result of the economic meltdown, companies' budgets are becoming smaller. And because budget is small, brand managers have been forced to think more creatively and inwardly to generate results," Badmus said.

The managing director of the academy, Mrs. Chinwe Badmus, however, noted that the recent re-branding project of the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof.Dora Akunyili is a good initiative that would not only change the way Nigerians are viewed abroad, but also encourage more foreign investment into the country. She called on the federal government to involve experts from the private sector in implementing the re-branding strategy.

The registrar of the academy, Mr. Chisom Ohuaka observed that brand management has contributed to national development in the country. He argued that apart from employing thousands of Nigerians in the industry, the brand sub-sector of the economy has changed the consumption pattern of many Nigerians for the better. To this end, he noted that the academy would continue to train local experts in the field of brand advertising to avoid capital flights that resulted during bank recapitalization period as most of the experts that designed the communication strategy then were foreigners.

swine flu drug Nigeria

Twelve people have reportedly died of the disease in Mexico, while the death of a 23-month-old child was recorded in the US on Thursday.

“The Federal Government has begun the process of emergency procurement of additional doses and stockpile in case we have human cases.We are anticipating to have two million doses of the drug (Tamiflu),” Ojuolape, who answered initial enquiries by email, said. Later when our correspondent requested for further clarifications by telephone, he confirmed that government had indeed placed an order for the drug, saying, “Yes, we have placed an order for it.” He, however, did not give the cost of the drug.

He said Nigeria only had about 100,000 doses of the drug at the moment. According to him, government does not envisage that the outbreak of the disease will be massive, if it gets to Nigeria..He said, ”In countries that the disease has occurred, the total number of cases that have been recorded has not exceeded 500.”

The Federal Government has placed an order for 2million doses of a drug that will be used to tackle the rampaging swine flu pathogen in the event that it enters Nigeria, Saturday Punch has learnt. The disclosure was made exclusively to Saturday Punch after the paper made specific enquiries about Nigeria’s preparednes at the Federal Ministry of Health on Friday. The Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Communication, Mr Niyi Ojuolape, also reiterated that there was no case of the flu in Nigeria. As of Friday, about 500 confirmed cases of the flu had been recorded in the United States; Mexico; Canada; New Zealand; Spain; United Kingdom; Germany; Israel; Austria; Costa Rica; Peru; Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Ojuolape said the country’s present stock of Tamiflu was procured last year for treating the bird flu, which recorded only one human victim in the country.

”The drugs are already in the states, but if there is any state requiring additional stocks, we have machinery with which we can get the drug to such a state.” According to him, Tamiflu, which is manufactured by a Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, has been distributed to 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. He added that the drugs were stored at federal and states‘ ministries of health stores as well as some hospitals in all the states.

When asked how many people could be treated with 100,000 doses of the drug, the minister stated, ”We should remember that for Avian Flu, we had only one confirmed human case so far. We think from the past experience and lessons learnt from other outbreaks, we will not have a lot of cases.”

According to him, if a lot of cases are recorded, more procurement will be made within a very short time.

Meanwhile, as governments all over the world rush to equip their airports with thermal scanners, the Federal Government is yet to do so.

This situation is contrary to government‘s promise, at the beginning of the week, that scanners would be installed at all entry points to screen people coming into the country. Saturday Punch‘s findings showed that, rather than the sophisticated scanners, health officials are using unrealiable disposable thermometers.

Our correspondent, who paid a visit to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday, did not see any thermal scanner at the arrival lounge of the country‘s foremost airport.

The thermal scanners are special scanners that screen passengers as they disembark from an aircraft, showing their body temperatures on screens monitored by health officials.

For example, some of the thermal scanners deployed in some Asian countries are configured in such a way that passengers with temperature above 37C are quickly identified and isolated.

Since high bodily temperature is one of the symptoms of the swine flu the thermal scanner is considered as one of the important first line preventive measures of stemming the spread of the flu.

Experts say that the non-deployment of the scanners could defeat the strenuous efforts that the Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, has made in the last days to combat the flu. However, the minister tried to play down the importance of scanners insisting that government‘s efforts were adequate. ”There are no machines with which you can scan and identify viruses at the ports. If such scanners exist, the United States and Mexico would have installed them. It will take laboratory tests for us to identify and isolate viruses.

”What was meant was the fact that we are going to mount surveillance, through our officials at the airports so that we can detect as soon as possible the entry of anybody with the virus. Note that it is carried by humans and not necessarily airborne per se. Further to this, government has directed that all aircraft arriving the country be checked and cleaned up to ensure that both passengers and luggage have no trace of the influenza in them. Also, starting from today (Friday), port health authorities are to board planes arriving to try to identify anyone with flu with a view to clinically testing them in order to track down the entry of the flu by anyone.”

Aviation and medical experts have said that Nigeria would have to be vigilant since its people travel a lot and is a country that is visited by people from different countries. The Head, Public Affairs, Murtala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos, of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria , Mr. Ola Ogundolapo, said that there were flights coming into the country from the various countries the flu had affected, on a daily basis. There are seven weekly flights from United Stated of America into Nigeria through Delta Airlines. There are about 60 weekly flights from various parts of Europe to Nigeria through British Airways, Air France, KLM, Turkish Airline, Lufthansa and others. However, he said that all agencies working at the airport had been put on alert by the Federal Ministry of Health through the Public Health Department‘s Port Health Services at the Lagos and Abuja airports, and that masks, gloves and thermometer had been made available to them.

Officials of Port Heath Services at the Lagos airport, who refused to speak on record, confirmed to our correspondent that the equipment had not been installed but that they were presently using disposable thermometers to measure passengers‘ temperature. They also said that no case had been discovered yet. Experts have, however, said that using thermometers to measure passengers‘ temperatures may lead to a situation where impatient health staff may overlook those that ought to be checked. Our correspondent observed that due to the volume of passengers, it is difficult for PHS workers to test every passenger with the disposable thermometer.

The Port Health Services, which had issued an alert on the swine flu to airport managers and immigration, now has two stands located ahead of the immigration desk arrival hall, an arrangement that makes them passengers‘ first contact point.

Apply To ICF and Thomson Reuters Foundation Training Course in Zambia

The Investment Climate Facility (ICF) for Africa and the Thomson Reuters Foundation have today launched a call for applications to their groundbreaking business journalism training course being held in Zambia next month. Participants have until Tuesday 19 May to apply for the Zambian course that will be delivered in English in Lusaka from 25 – 29 May 2009.

Media organisations are invited to recommend applicants, or journalists can apply themselves, for the intensive five-day workshop which will be delivered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The course will broaden reporting focus and skills, as well as deepen understanding of economic and business issues of relevance to the continent and internationally.

Participants will have the opportunity to put theory into practice through numerous practical exercises and timed writing tasks. Detailed briefings, expert guest speakers, group discussions and a field reporting trip are core elements of each course. There will also be the opportunity for a select number of participants who demonstrate high potential in the introductory courses to attend an advanced two week course at a later date in either London, Paris or Lisbon.

This second of six training courses is part of Africa’s most ambitious journalist training programme, which aims to improve business, financial and investment journalism across the continent. Both ICF and the Thomson Reuters Foundation believe that greater scrutiny of investment and business issues, more timely and accurate reporting and a culture of delivering impartial news will help increase investor confidence across the continent.

ICF’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Omari Issa, explains: “This is the third course in an important project that will increase domestic and foreign confidence and ensure more of the continent’s financial and business reporting is ‘by Africa for Africa’. The journalists who attended the first two courses have since told us that their reporting has benefitted from what they learnt and they were able to put their learnings into practice immediately after the course. We hope that business journalists from across East Africa will apply for this course. “

Lenny Njau, journalist for Kenya’s The People Daily Newspaper, who participated in the inaugural training course in Nairobi, explains: “The course was a brilliant idea and the timing could not have been much better. At a time when the world is engulfed in financial crises, nothing is more important than giving people the most accurate information. As a budding journalist, I feel much more knowledgeable and open minded in making judgements having taken part in ICF and the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s inaugural course.”

Application forms are downloadable from: www.icfafrica.org and http://www.reuterslink.org and must be received by 19 May 2009. ICF will fund all training programme fees and accommodation and media organisations will be required to cover the costs of journalists’ flights and allowances. The selection of suitable journalists will be conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Applications will also be considered for further training sessions which will be held in Lagos Nigeria, June 22-26; Abidjan, Ivory Coast, July 27-31; and Maputo, Mozambique, August 24-28.

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.

Economic conditions will remain difficult till 2011

The Assistant General Manager, Asia, Pacific and Africa Operations, British Airways, Mr. Ashley Cowen, was in Lagos recently. In this interview with OYETUNJI ABIOYE and EMEKA EZEKIEL, he spoke on the global economic meltdown and the prospect of the airline industry, among other issues

This is the first time you are visiting Africa, specifically Nigeria. What is your mission?

The first and most important thing to me is to make sure that the bedrock of excellent customer service, safety and security, is at the heart of everything that we do. So, before we talk about the mission of moving forward, we really have to make sure that we work on those key elements. In the future, even though we know that we operate in a very difficult environment, I believe that the African continent offers a great opportunity for growth. Even though the growth might not be as fast as we expect, the continent still remains the engine of growth. My plan is to offer more frequency on Lagos-London flights. I think the African continent offers a real engine of growth. If we can join businesses together round the world; if we can bring investors here; if we can bring goods and services here and take goods and services away to sell in other markets and also join friends and families together round the globe, then we would be achieving a lot. These are chief, among the strong things we want to see and develop in Africa .

There is a partnership between the British Airways and the United Nations Children Fund. How much of this fund do you intend to invest in Africa, in general, and Nigeria in particular?

I do not have the details or the total amount that would be invested in Nigeria right now at my fingertips.

But if you talk about Nigeria, £26m had been budgeted and already collected under the Change For Good Programme since 1994. Today, we are really lucky enough to announce the sum of £220,000 that would be used to buy insect-repelling malaria nets that are specifically targeting children under five years and pregnant mothers. It is always alarming to hear that for all under-five deaths, 40 per cent of them are malaria related. This is one area we want to assist through the Change for Good programme

Looking at the global economic recession, what plan do you have to sustain the market in Nigeria or simply put: what is the future of British Airways in Nigeria?

We have a strong foot in Africa. The Africa market is important to us. There is a recession, which does affect passenger numbers, and Nigeria is not being unaffected. What we have done is to introduce promotional fares to encourage passengers to fly. We have slashed fares for first class. You can pay one way in first class. We have two in one fare in business class and we have special fare of £599 in economy class to encourage passengers to fly.

Have you experienced a drop in passenger volume in your African operations?

Yes, there is a drop in Africa.

Can you bring that down to percentage level?

We don‘t give away such secrets about passenger drop in our operations.

You do two flights into Nigeria everyday. In what other countries do you do more than two flights and what type of aircraft do you use?

We operate three flights to South Africa a day. Nigeria is one of the few countries in Africa that have more than a daily flight. South Africa and Nigeria are where we have more than a daily flight.

The airline industry globally is going through economic downturn. How specifically has it been affecting the British Airways?

I think there is no question about the fact that there is a global economic downturn. I think it is the more significant economic downturn that we have ever witnessed in the airline industry. There has been a lot of highs and a lot of lows but this is the most significant downturn that the industry has ever witnessed. It is a combination of factors: a number of key economies, like the United States, are in recession. The United Kingdom is in recession and Europe is in it. However, we still got economic growth in some areas. For instance, China is growing, India is growing, Africa is growing; but the rate of growth has slowed down quite a lot. Then, if you look at some of the major economies they have very weak consumer confidence, definitely consumer confidence in the UK is at its lowest. The same applies to the US. We have a banking system that is not working at the moment. It is particularly very difficult in the airline industry. What happened to the downturn in the airline industry has to do with very high oil prices and we have volatile currencies – the pound has weakened significantly against the dollar and Euro – all these factors combined to make it very challenging at the moment.

Interestingly, the rate of decline in British Airways is less than the industry average if you look at the International Air Transport Association figures. IATA is looking at figures globally that are worse than that of British Airways and I think that is early indication of how low passenger turn out is hitting global carriers. There is low premium travel in the Trans Pacific and premium travel within Asia. I think a lot of people saw this as being caused by UK, US situation. However, in terms of air travel, Asia is probably the target. That is where it really shows that it is a global issue. So it is going to be a challenging year, although we have got a very sound financial position going into it and that helped. Fortunately we have put secured financing in place for all the new aircraft we have ordered. That is already financed and probably makes British Airways unique in the world of aviation. A lot of airlines today will find it challenging financing new aircraft. I think we are in a sound position but we have to look at ways to improve our performance, and that is exactly what we need to do. We are very confident that we know what we are going to do and we know that we will do what is necessary to make sure that British Airways is one of the airlines that will not only survive this period but actually come out to make its position stronger in the industry.

How many aircraft do you have and why is it that you deploy old aircraft to Nigeria?

That is untrue. The aircraft we deploy to Nigeria are very sound aircraft that we deploy to our other destinations, including US cities. The aircraft that came from Abuja this morning is going to Brussels. It is the same aircraft. We don‘t differentiate at that. I don‘t know where that rumour started from. We don‘t differentiate and dedicate our aircraft. We integrate all our aircraft. Among our long haul aircraft, which fly to Nigeria, we have 57 Boeing 747-400 and we have 42 Boeing 777-200 aircraft and they fly our long haul network. The aircraft that flew in from Lagos this morning is scheduled to go to Mumbai this afternoon. The aircraft that operated from Abuja yesterday flew in from Tel-Aviv. Aircraft integration in this issue is so complex that it will be impossible to dedicate one aircraft on one route. So, the aircraft you see in Nigeria is the aircraft you will see in all the world cities. That is the way we operate. British Airways has been operating to Nigeria for over 70 years before any of you were born, I believe 70 years from now, when other people will be flying British Airways, the airline will still be coming to Nigeria. It is a very important market and we believe we operate a very competitive service to Nigeria. It is a market that we are absolutely committed to and we understand how competitive that market is; how competitive it has been in the past and how competitive it is today and how it will be in the future. To show we are committed to Nigeria we have been there during good time and we have been there during bad times. And we will be there flying Heathrow- Lagos and Abuja. We have had cause in the past to increase our flights to Nigeria. We will like to increase our frequency but we are, as a commercial airline (fully commercial), we would only succeed if our customers are satisfied with our service. And I believe we offer very good service because we are airline that have a world of customers. We fly to all parts of the world because we are a global premium airline and Nigeria is a key part of the global market.

You had a problem with your aircraft, which forced it to land in Kano from Abuja, on its way to London. The incident prompted Nigerian government to query you. What really happened?

That is part of the allegation- that we use different aircraft to fly to Nigeria, which is untrue. It is easy for people to say this. The fact is that British Airways has very strong business in Nigeria. A lot of people fly British Airways and they keep coming back. I think we do that because we offer good service. When we look at serving Nigeria and operating from Nigeria to London, it is like serving our global network. So, we look at how we integrate our aircraft so that flights from Abuja and Lagos can connect to other services that we have because a lot of the people that we fly from Nigeria are not just flying to London, but flying to connect to other networks. Therefore, we have got to make sure that the aircraft arrive a time that is suitable to connect to other destinations. It is very complex and I think you‘ve got the opportunity to see how complex Heathrow is and we gave you the reasons of why we do what we do.

Has the current economic recession forced you to withdraw your acquisition order from aircraft manufacturers?

It is quite the opposite. In September 2007, we secured finance for all the aircraft that we ordered. So, we are going to take delivery of all those aircraft. In 2009, we are going to take four triple 7-200- the first one will actually get delivered next week (this week). In 2010, we will take six triple 7-300; in 2011 we have no scheduled delivery. We were due to take eight Boeing 787 in 2011 but that programme has been delayed. Those aircraft will be delivered to us in 2012. In 2012, we will get the delivery of eight Boeing 787 and four Airbus A380 and then in 2013 another eight Boeing 787 and another four A380s.

What is BA‘s strategy for coming out of this economic recession? Any prediction on when the recession will be over in the airline industry?

The strategy is simple. We are a premium airline and we will continue to be a premium airline. We have a global network and we will continue to maintain that global network. We hope we will be able to strengthen that global network, but it is going to be a tough environment. Economic conditions, we believe, will remain difficult until 2011. So, we are planning that we are going to have weak economic environment in current 2009 and 2010. The US economy will begin to recover, maybe, midway 2010. UK economy will follow in about six months so that by 2011, we‘ll get back into economic growth. It is going to be tough in the next two years.

Two years ago, China said it was going to order 200 aircraft- which was a very ambitious order. These aircraft will need pilots, requiring China poaching from other airlines. Has China been requesting to offer jobs to your pilots?

This issue has been discussed in IATA. It was one of the concerns raised at the IATA Annual General Meeting that Middle East airlines and China, from the rate they are growing, will have to quickly train people – pilots, engineers, people that work in IT. Some were saying that this was putting them in a significant disadvantage. But things have just slowed down, even in the Middle East. What we have seen is that there are people who retire early from British Airways and take a pension and then go on to work for another airline. Apart from that, we have not seen much of that, at this point, other airlines coming to British Airways to take people. It is a big issue and I know that some small airlines at IATA AGM were very concerned about this. It makes the situation more competitive.

Lufthansa expands into West Africa

Lufthansa Cargo has signed an interline deal with Kenyan freight carrier Astral Aviation, which will allow the German operator access to seven new African destinations via Nairobi.

The contract comes shortly after Etihad Crystal Cargo finalised a similar arrangement with Astral, which provides services to Bujumbura (Burundi), Dar Es Salaam, Mwanza, Zanzibar (all Tanzania), Juba (Sudan) and Kigali and Entebbe (both Uganda).

Lufthansa MD-11 freighters will fly to Nairobi, where Astral will then forward freight onto the other destinations. Astral, which has been operating since 2001, has a fleet of DC-9, Fokker 27 freighters, An-12 and Cessna Caravan aircraft.

Jade Cargo International, the Lufthansa Cargo and Shenzhen Airlines joint venture, is also concentrating on Africa. Twice-weekly flights from Shanghai using a B747-400ERF are routed through Shenzhen to Chennai and then via Sharjah to Lagos, the Nigerian capital.

The move comes as several Gulf airlines have recently followed a trend of committing additional resources to the African continent.

Emirates' 2009 expansion plan

Emirates Airline unveiled plans to grow the number of flights across its network by 14 per cent in 2009. This year, the Dubai-based carrier will add 18 new passenger aircraft to its fleet, increasing seating capacity by 14 per cent and enabling it to start new routes as well as increase frequencies on many existing routes. It will also expand cargo capacity by 17 per cent.

The additional frequencies will affford passengers a greater choice of flights, more frequent connections with their target markets and shorter, more convenient connection times.

Emirates currently has a fleet of 129 wide-bodied aircraft. By the end of the 2008-09 financial year, that figure will stand at 132, including four superjumbo Airbus A380s. The carrier will welcome a further seven A380s in fiscal year 2009-10, as well as 10 Boeing 777-300ER, one 777-200LR and one Boeing 777 freighter.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said: "Next year is not going to be an easy ride for the airline industry. We have prepared the best we can for the challenges we foresee, but we also see it as a time of opportunity. This year, with our significant capacity increase, will be a year of consolidation for us, with fewer new routes launched than in previous years.

Emirates' fastest growing markets are Africa and the Middle East. The airline recently added a second daily flight to Lagos. It will also introduce services from Dubai to Durban flights, South Africa on October 1.

Last month, Emirates announced a vast Middle East expansion plan, taking the number of seats in the region to 50,000 on 180 flights a week. Additional flights to Amman, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait and Damascus were started recently.

Emirates has added 32 weekly flights to its existing Indian services since November.

As new aircraft come online for both Los Angeles flights and San Francisco flights - Emirates' newest routes, launched in October and December - will go from thrice weekly to daily from May.

There is increased capacity to Australia, with additional daily flights to Brisbane and Melbourne, taking the total number of flights a week to 63. Later this year, a third daily flights to Sydney will be added. In February, Emirates became the first carrier to operate commercial A380 flights to New Zealand with the launch of its Dubai-Sydney-Auckland flights.

Plans are also afoot to deploy superjumbos on Dubai-Seoul and Dubai-Singapore flights in November and December respectively. The first A380 flight between Dubai and Seoul's Incheon International Airport will depart in November, while the Singapore service will start in December and initially run four times weekly.

In Europe, Emirates has already embarked on an expansion programme. In recent months it has increased services on the Larnaca-Malta route to seven times weekly, commenced double daily flights into Milan, increased Istanbul services to 11 flights a week, and Nice flights to five times weekly. Second daily services into Moscow and Athens are also planned.

In total, the additional capacity will see more than 8,635 seats and around 600 tonnes of cargo capacity added to the Emirates fleet.

Established in October 1985 with flights to Karachi and Mumbai, Emirates Airline today directly serves 101 cities in 61 countries. Last October, the Emirates dedicated Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport opened. In 2008, 22 million Emirates passengers passed through Dubai International Airport - an 11 per cent increase on 2007.

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.