₦airaland Forum

Awol1:
Pardon, what is MRO?

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul. Currently Nigerian airlines spend an average if $1.5 million every 18 months to carry out C-checks on their aircraft in europe. It is one of the major reasons most airlines die after a few years here because they spend this much on heavy maintenance and also have their aircrafts out of service for the duration of the repairs which could last up to three months in many instances. Allen Onyema recently said he asked the anambra governor for a space in this project where he can setup an MRO

Awol1:
You are making sense.

Except for this interrelationships between neighbouring states' airports, what stops the Anambra airport from being built to serve both cargo and humans?

It’s location may not be convenient. I’ve never been to the south east but a close friend who lives in akwa tells me he prefers flying from asaba as it’s really close. I don’t know how close the site of this cargo airport is to the centre of economic activities in the state. I believe there’ll be a passenger terminal too. I heard about an MRO centre also being part of the plan. Uyo has a space for MRO Also but it’s not being utilised. Currently there is no MRO facility in the whole of west and central Africa. Aero has one in Lagos but it’s an at par with what you’ll get in Egypt and Ethiopia

Awol1:
That's what alcohol told Obiano. Lol

How can u build only cargo airport in Anambra.

Isi adikwa ya mma?

Cargo is a huge revenue earner. Check out the cargo airport in anchorage . In this life you got to do something different . Only Passenger service airports aren’t viable and with the clear division among states in Nigeria collaboration is almost non-existent. I’d rather prefer they workout something with the Enugu government to build a cargo terminal as an appendage of akanu biam but with the division across states it will be seen to benefit Enugu and not Anambra thus enabling opposition politicians use it as a campaign point. As a result you have airports scattered all over the place in the region. Asaba , Enugu , owerri and now anambra . Ebonyi is also talking about an airport . Yet only 4 airports in Nigeria are self-sufficient with the government using the revenue gains in these four to fund the deficits in the 18+ others . As a result the viable 4 are performing far beyond its potentials and second to most airports in west Africa.
In conclusion Nigeria continues to remain a myriad with every state out there to milk the centre and get its share of the National cake. With this model I do not expect any significant economic growth In the short and long term

MystiqueTaurus:
Hello Everyone. Please I have a question. I have a colleague that’s on 471. She missed out on ITA at the last draw due to tie-breaker. She also has an NOI from Ontario that’s due for submission in about 2 days. Please help analyze the scenarios below:

1) is it advisable to submit incomplete documents to hold down the Ontario NOI while she waits to see what the next draw would be on Wednesday

2) Would Ontario send an ADR to submit the outstanding document or it’d be outright rejection

3) Is it wise to spend 500k on Ontario with 471 when the last general draw was 471

4) is the best option to go full throttle for the Ontario and neglect whatever happens

Please help!!!

NOI is a long thing. I will rather wait for The cutoff to drop to 470.

B2consult111:
Also Ikeja too

Nice. How do I get the TRF number ?

densel:
Please, is IELTS speaking test done only in Ikoyi for Lagos center...or is there a speaking test center on the mainland?

Thanks

I had mine at ikoyi. Lagos has three centres administered by british council . Ikorodu, oworoshoki and ikoyi

For those of us that used british council, how do we get the TRF Result form ?

francophone134:
How den wan do for my mata so o.... Crs score low die! 449, because of 2yrs work experience sha.... ...
Congrats once more to all who got ITA

Scores are unpredictable. I never expected it to drop more than one point but three points drop means the top numbers are clearing out . It may still drop to 470 but I doubt if it will come down to 450 this year

Achuwa1:
This project is Stella oduah making & Hadi sirika is only taking credit for a project she knows nothing about.
This government even struggled to continue the project even though GEj in collaboration with cecc paid completely for the project.

If I remember clearly Stella oduah embarked on a terminal renovation project which to some extent failed. Most of the terminal buildings reconstructed during her tenure were of low quality. About Hadi taking credit I don’t think any aviation minister in the last 20 years has been as proactive as Hadi. His major problem is funding other than that he has completed a good number of project many of which are not cosmetic In nature

InaNla:
How much it would take for the surgery and how long time to heal after...

Cost 400-500k per eye for the laser surgery in Abuja. They remove the covering after one day but you need to avoid infection by avoiding water contact with the eyes and applying the eye drops as prescribed

NaijaRoyalty:
If they must sell the airports to there family and friends, then due process must be followed.

This government is very useless and evil .

They've sold almost every sector of the economy to there family and friends for a peanut cake .

Amaechi is about to give away the sovereignty of Nigeria to Chinese government for his selfish gain

Too bad we found ourselves been ruled by APC.

Forget about these unionists misleading the public. It is the terminal buildings that will be concessioned not the whole airport. They know that in a concessioned terminal there will be no room for racketeering, extortion and inefficiency as exists presently . The airports under FAAN (particularly Lagos ) has been a joke. You can’t even compare them to airports in Lomé , Accra and Niamey.

FellaG:
What is misleading about the post?

If you spend 10 years counting cash and another person spends 10 years building strong technical skills in the same environment we should not blame the cashier but rather blame the institution

Your post is misleading . You spent 10 years as a cashier . I don’t know anyone who spent The last 10 years in the technology division (software ) of a bank that did not exit with a bag of knowledge. Many of them move to fintechs in Nigeria , the test of Africa and beyond. Cashier position can be done by a high school leaver and I wonder what kept you there for 10 years

quentin06:
I wonder why these guys buys expensive planes for a 1 hour trip, they dontvfoy overseas much, why not buy smaller more economical craft.

Why do you hire so many pilots? Let's face it apart from a few states like Lagos, Abuja, PH, Kano which other state has serious traffic?

Looking at the model of our airline at home, I can say these guys are getting some sort of subsidy cos their expenses greatly exceed revenues.

Covid has exposed that.

Each time I go to the airport and see the number of Boeing 737s I wonder who advises these people . Those planes are not meant for domestic routes. Air peace later realised that and bought 50 seaters embraers . Same with arik they later bought CRJ 900s .

Wakama101:
You are rejoicing at other's downfall but cry when they talk about yours . Well , Akwa Ibom air and airport is also nonviable white elephant that will crash sooner or later , so what's your point?

Lmao a new government will come and sell of the planes and tag the project a white elephant one . Government run aviation businesses are not run as businesses in most african countries

sugah:
How many flights did they operate? I didn't keep track but they had very many other chartered flights even on the 737 and the 145 unlike other airlines that were totally shutdown.
@bolded, not quite correct. Arik introduced a 90% paycut for the months of lockdown (April, May and June), they aren't currently paying their pilots 10% salary for flying, no sane aviation expert will do that considering the risks it poses.
Airpeace is getting to where Arik was years ago and its solely due mismanagement. No successful biz is run on sentiments and emotions let's be realistic. I agree, If he wants a successful biz then he should professionals to run it and get his emotions in check.
Unfortunately, Green Africa's choice of the Airbus might not be a smart move. Nigerian Airlines don't even need Boeing aircrafts and that's the mistake they make. A 50 seater Embraer has more profit margin than a boeing and I hope United Nigeria picks up as it seems they have an idea about running a low cost.
Azman and Dana were hoping the airpeace pilots would cave in to the pressure so they can also effect same to their guys as airpeace had the most pilots and flights in the industry...but unfortunately Airpeace had a more sinister plan.

Air peace needs those pilots . On Sunday they cancelled flights from Abuja to uyo as well as Abuja to Kano. They have new aircrafts coming in from September which they’ll needs pilots to for . Another thing I suspect is that they are planning to retire those 737-300/500 due to its high cost of maintenance. If they do that they’ll definitely need more embraer pilots and May have to look for expatriate pilots . Allen Onyema is clearly learning on the job and relying on advice from Consultants to take decisions. It has its pros and cons but better to have a professional airline manager as CEO to manage his airline.

Aside the negative I believe he also has his positive sides . During the lockdown he campaigned for bailout to enable the airlines to be able to pay their staff. He has also been campaigning for protectionism from the government to strengthen thE Nigerian airlines thus weaken the dominance of foreign airlines on Nigerian skies , he introduced better pilot welfare system in the industry and above all he Took the risk investing in a sector that almost everyone Runs away from due to its low margins and low lifespan . He needs to work on their weaknesses such poor customer service ( you can hardly ever get their customer service over the phone ), also need more technology investment and a better conflict management system.

sugah:
The bolded is very incorrect. A pilots office is the cockpit and I gathered they needed a place to come together and discuss on a line of action to resolve the issue hence the carpark of the airport was chosen. (Insider source)
While its common knowledge that the aviation industry worldwide and even Nigeria was badly affected by the coronavirus, they were the only airlines that were still flying during the lockdown with chartered and evacuation flights so how come they are the only ones that sacked pilots that have refused to risk their lives for a meagre 20% of their salaries?
What I saw is an outburst of a proud man that believes he can get away with anything cos I don't see how a first reaction to an issue will be a threat to close down his own company..he obviously feels he is doing them a favor by running the airline but forgetting that an airline cannot survive without pilots and engineers.

How many flights did the operate during the lockdown? Max one or two a week to india or UAE with most of their fleet remaining grounded with running lease, insurance and general maintenance expenses. They also had bloated workforce. Arik introduced a 90% paycut . Same with Azman. The whole sector is in a mess . I don’t believe they can afford those salaries . Profit margins are very little in the aviation sector Couple with all they go through here in Nigeria.
Hadi sirika predicted that many airlines will not survive this covid and they have to do everything possible to prevent collapsing.

In 2015 arik almost went into extinction and is still struggling in debt and have lost much of its capacity . As at today Nigerian airlines are weak and airpeace seems to be the only one with a bit of capacity . I don’t think green Africa will come through this year with the low travel capacity . I’d even prefer airpeace invites credible Partners/ investors to come in to strengthen their corporate governance as it is today there are no checks against Allen Onyema‘s influence.

What next for them ? Azman dislikes anything airpeace and I doubt if the Azman boss will want to take them in. Some recommended practicing abroad but currently there are thousands like them round the world who have also been laid off from mega carriers

sugah:
https://newswirengr.com/2020/08/03/breaking-air-peace-allegedly-sacks-most-of-its-pilots-over-pay-dispute/
You should read this to get a better picture.... at least it has mails attached for evidence.
I didn't see any pleading, all I saw was a typical Nigerian businessman attitude...threatening to shutdown the airline instead of hashing out an issue with a professional workforce, Lying with reckless abandon (after deducting 30% of March salaries so he wouldn't sack anyone still went ahead to sack 15 people before this 69). When it was rumoured last week or so that the pilots went on strike they issued a memo claiming it was the job of detractors..how come they are now admitting to it? They didn't pay their staff for 4 months but were busy doing giveaway on Instagram.
I really loathe Nigerian companies

Sugah this link is what I read before writing this. In march I never foresaw the lockdown extending beyond the announced two weeks. If your employer has a history of not owing you or cheating you and something like this happens give them a benefit of doubt. With the lockdowns and grounding for 4 months I don't need to see their financial statement to have an idea of how bad things are. I don't think anyone foresaw things getting this bad in march.
Regarding the threat what I saw was an emotional response from a founder who began to believe some insider pilots were out there to frustrate the dream as they carried out a protest at the airport. The airline is still a start-up and too young to be having it's pilots openly protesting as that will drive away passengers and further plough the airline downwards.

The airport terminals are empty as passenger traffic is picking up slowly. Not the best of times for everyone in the sector. If emirates can terminate thousands of contracts without blinking why can't pilots negotiate with their employers in line with the realities of today ?

They were confident last week that they'd be able to come to a compromise which I believe engineered them to deny the pilots striking story that was out in the media. But as it turned out another disruption was planned for today and they were better off taking precautionary actions with the hope that the business climate will improve.

Killdemboth:
I hear you, you think those countries will employ foreigners at this time of global melt down. They have more pilots than Nigeria incase you dont know their aviation school is among the best in Africa.

Exactly. We get so beclouded my personal interest here. I have stayed in Ethiopia and also visited Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. With the exception of Rwanda all these countries run strongly protectionist regimes. The possibility of hiring a nigerian pilot over a pilot of their own is very low. Nigerians ought to know by now that the best way out is building a strong aviation industry for your country instead of dragging down and tearing apart a carrier that is trying to build capacity against the odds just to have your way. Look at how emirates terminated the contracts of its pilots in the most embarrassing way. If they were Emiratis they wouldn't have treated them like that

VirginSearcher:
They should leave even if it is South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia or Rwanda they will get a good job as pilot

Lol most of these countries you've mentioned are very protectionist in nature. Until there is no jobless ethiopian pilot an airpeace pilot will not be considered. Globally thousands of pilots have been fired over the last three months. Thousands of airplanes are in storage.

crazygod:
I can bet this is the real story. This has nothing to do with any corona virus pandemic if not, where did they get money to buy new planes?

Those planes were ordered for last year . Its just the deliveries that are about to start coming through.

SmartProf:
69 pilots at a time o? This one go shock buhari seriously when he reads about it. There are some professions that you can't go on private practice yourself, you just have to work for an organization, establishment, company, etc., and this is one of the risk of having such career path especially where there is no job security.

In my opinion the pilots were greedy and inconsiderate based on the little I know and read about. Air Peace is a start up and not a mega carrier. Despite it's start-up nature it's pilots were the highest paid in the industry and the management invested heavily on training it's pilots on modern equipments (boeing 777, Embraer 145 and Embraer 195 -E2). But when covid came in the management introduced a pay-cut across board which the pilots rejected. While deliberations were ongoing the pilots held an open protest at the airport two weeks ago and somehow emails of the CEO reminding them of the good days and what the company did for them (pay rise, bonuses and all) and also pleaded with them to see this as temporary disruption fell on deaf ears. After the protest the CEO sent them an email where he expressed displeasure at how they protested against an airline which gave them a platform to practice their profession and how he wont allow them to blackmail him again. They planned another strike action/protest today which was going to disrupt the airline's operations thus the airline terminated the contracts of those who rejected the pay-cuts, cancelled some flights and got management pilots to operate the flights.

My point is airlines like airfrance are mega carriers and can afford to have thousands of pilots go on strike, accommodate stranded passengers and compensate them for delays resulting from the strike action. Here we have an airline striving to develop the country's aviation sector and you now have individuals from within sabotaging the management's efforts just to have their way.

Have they sorted out the landing permit issue ?

STENON:
That was all in the middle of Coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic is over, all other countries have opened their borders and eased lockdown ... so what's stopping Nigerian Government from doing same??

I cant tell if all countries have opened their borders. These countries was their airlines to make money and that's what it is all about. If Air peace approaches UAE to say they want to resume their operations to UAE I'm sure UAE will tell them their borders are still closed due to the pandemic. But emirates on its part has been operating flights into Nigeria in connivance with Nigerian aviation officials. Covid 19 presents an opportunity for the Nigerian government to re-negotiate the multiple entry points and multiple flights these carriers enjoy in Nigeria.

STENON:
All those have been operating International flight before the lockdown.
Instead of you to face your FG who has a misplaced priorities since all these past years, you are here quoting my comment!! KLM is for France, Emirates for UAE, Virgin and BA for UK, etc. Mention one international airline that you know from Nigeria? So because of pandemic now, they are pretending to be nice... This is a wake up call for Nigerian Government to also improve the aviation sector as other countries have done.

KLM is a private company registered in the Netherlands. Virgin is a one man business owned by Richard branson just like arik is owned by an individual. BA is owned by IAG group. Emirates is a family business. Arik and airpeace are private businesses from Nigeria. In aviation once your government recognises you as a flag carrier (kindly note the difference between a flag carrier and national carrier is that a national carrier has government ownership while flag carrier is privately owned). All these airlines you have listed out are privately owned.

There is a clause for diplomatic landing permit which involves the governments of both countries. Nigeria has a BASA agreement with UK signed in 2011 allowing UK registered airlines to operate a maximum of 21 weekly flights to Nigeria and also allowing Nigerian registered airlines operating 21 weekly flights to UK. In this case the Nigerian government designated Airpeace to carry out this flight which is allowed under BASA. Nigerian aviation sector is not strong on the international scene and it is because of treatments like this they receive on the international arena with it's government failing to stand by them. A lot of aviation professionals have been complaining over the years that the Nigerian government officials are signing unfavourable pacts with these countries at the detriment of Nigerian aviation sector but the government did nothing until Hadi sirika became a full minister in 2019 and began to demand equal rights.

I'll give you an example. Last time I went to Ethiopia I flew there from Kenya on Kenya airways. The flight was very late in the night at 11:55 pm. I chatted briefly with one of the Kenya airways officials who told me that Ethiopia gave them a slot that late to keep away as many passengers from Kenya airways because of the unfavourable time slot. When I got to Ethiopia I noticed how their government makes things difficult for non Ethiopians. When you try to rent a house you pay more if you are not a citizen. At touristic sites you pay more if you are not a citizen. To own a business you have to get an Ethiopian citizen to own at least 50% of the business. But today Ethiopian airlines flies daily to Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu/Port harcourt. They even wanted to handle all the charter flights for Nigeria. On my second trip to Ethiopia I paid $908 from Lagos to Addis Ababa and back (5 hour flight). From Addis Ababa to Newark and back I paid $720 (14 hour flight).

Do you think they will want any Nigerian airline to grow ? Last year foreign airlines repatriated about $3 bn from Nigeria from ticket sales. If Nigerian government does not stand up to protect its airlines like these countries do the Nigerian aviation sector will remain at its infant stage. The Air Nigeria they are trying to setup will also die a natural death under the current BASAs.

STENON:
Yes. Good for airpeace and Nigerian Government!!. You think you are smart? You closed your international airport but sending your own airline to do business and cash out from this pandemic with higher ticket price!! Emirate charges 60% of what your so called airpeace is charging the stranded Nigerians. Evacuation should only be done once, every other Evacuation is for business , all other countries have opened their borders except Nigeria due to corruption-filled coronavirus statistics. If air peace really want to help, FG should do that free of charge without asking them to pay such exorbitant flight fees and UK Government will be happy to give them the landing permit

Do not be quick to throw blames here and there. This is one of the things colonialism did to many Africans. It made them think the white man was always right and the black man was always wrong and that is what you seem to be exhibiting. The Nigerian government over the years has also exhibited this behaviour but it is now becoming embarrassing to even the government after what happened with the Canadian Government and now the UK Government.
Air peace charged Nigerians $700 for the trip from London to Abuja and LAgos. In my life I have never paid less than $1000 to BA for any trip even though they deploy their oldest aircrafts on the Nigerian routes.

Let me take you back to the beginning of this whole lockdown. BA evacuated 2,789 of its citizens from Nigeria (Abuja and Lagos) on about 12 fights. The Nigerian high commission approached them to use the opportunity to bring Nigerians as opposed to flying empty but they dragged their feet and the only flight in which they conveyed Nigerians was a disaster. The passengers paid over $1000 to be taken to Abuja to be quarantined and BA dumped them at the tarmac in Lagos for about 5 hours until airpeace conveyed them from Lagos to Abuja to be quarantined.

Nigerian government decided to make an arrangement with Airpeace which successfully carried out the flight on June 28 with 317 passenger from London to Abuja and Lagos. Most of the passengers were satisfied and when the Nigerian High commission arranged a second airpeace flight tickets sold out within one day. The UK officials decided to withdraw the earlier approved permit for this second flight and asked the Nigerian government to use a British Registered airline for the flight. The implication of this is that whatever revenue the flight will generate will go to the British airline and not the Nigerian one. Isn't that a humiliation ? And you are here justifying their actions. It is painful seeing how some Nigerians still think and behave like slaves justifying every action of the slave master.

Air peace has a fleet of about 10 boeing 737s (excluding the embraers and 777s) and they have a maintenance contract with a British MRO for A, B, C and D checks. Each time they are going to UK for C checks they get their landing permits expressly approved because they are coming with £500,000 - £600,000 to pay the british company. Now that the trip involves revenue going to them the british government comes up with stories such as "the airline this the airline that". If its by that they should also stop airpeace from using their MRO facilities.

BA operated 12 or more flights to Nigeria during the lockdown. Virgin atlantic also operated some flights. But airpeace only operated one and they are frowning. Airline Operators of Nigeria have always maintained that the BASAs and the SAATM Nigeria signed to are a fraud against Nigeria. These foreign airlines monopolise the market and jack up the price to the point that travelling is still seen as a luxury among many Nigerians.

Africans should wake up. The average white man does not like the average black man and will never want anything about the african world to succeed. Emirates airline have been operating commercial flights to Nigeria during the lockdown under the name of evacuation/repatriation flights . There ads are everywhere on wakanow and Instagram pages of other travel agencies.

Golan007:
Professors invested in MMM.

Tell me another story.

https://punchng.com/nigerian-doctors-stopped-at-lagos-airport-promised-millions-by-uk-firm/?amp=1

An update on this.

laiperi:
We blame uneducated youths transferred across the desert and sea by unscrupulous agents.

Now these are educated doctors who claimed they were promised work visas on arrival!

The plane carrier can be fined, their country of departure sanctioned and put both foreign mission in disarray.

These educated illiterates cannot pinpoint where they got their authorization to satisfy Nigerian authority or show one site on internet!

God saved them, they could have found themselves in an Arab or Jewish country as organ donor or rituals.

I don't want to believe the story from the NIS . About 12 years ago I approached the NIS desk at the airport in Abuja to board a Klm flight to Amsterdam en route Birmingham. I had a valid US F1 visa and UK C-visit visa. The NIS official asked where I was going to and I told him I was going to Birmingham for four days after which I'd head out to Baltimore to continue my studies. He requested for the invitation letter from the person I was going to visit in UK and cash evidence. I had $1,080 cash, bank card with me but he insisted that it was too little and called his colleague to attend to me. His colleague asked me to give them 5,000 Naira which I refused to. Another passenger spoke to them and gave them a tip before they released my passport.
The story from the Nigerian Immigration Service does not represent the full picture of what transpired.

Golan007:
[s][/s]

Lies.

If the UK government can provide aircrafts they can provide Visas.

Enough with the need to bash your country even when there is no basis for it.

They had no visas to fly and the immigration service did its job.

Dont believe what the immigration spokesman is saying. I'm sure with time one of the affected passengers will state their own side of the story. Are you trying to say 58 medical practitioners chartered a flight and went to the airport without a valid entry permit ? If one doctor is dumb the 57 others cannot be