Executive Industry News You Need To Know Today
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Newsflow in the last 24 hours around Covid19 has lessened, no doubt the industry players are working on their internal strategies and restarting plans. We wish you a safe a restful weekend.
In today's update we are covering the following topics:
Germany: Lufthansa opens new pharma facilities in Munich & Chicago airports
India: Air India privatisation: At least 6, including Lufthansa and Etihad, in race for Maharaja
Ivory Coast/Mali - Côte d’Ivoire shuts air and land doors to Mali by order of ECOWAS
Nigeria: Airlines Record 80% Decline In Patronage
Nigeria: NCAA to Airlines - Fail to Report Incidents, Lose Licence
Romania: Romanian Transport Minister hopes to bring national air carrier Tarom to profit by 2024
Senegal/Italy: Milan Bergamo Airport has sights on Senegal
UK: Loganair takes over London City-Isle of Man route from British Airways
UK: Fastjet nosedives as it plans AIM delisting amid concerns over future
UK: Wizz Air is opening a new base in the UK - with flights to Spain, Greece, Italy and Malta
USA: American Airlines to cut service to 15 cities, including New Haven
Ukraine: UIA Cancels Flights To 12 Cities In September
Germany
Lufthansa opens new pharma facilities in Munich & Chicago airports - Indian Transport & Logistics News
Ghana
General Secretary of the Ghana Public Health Association has advised government to impose restrictions on some flights if the country is to reopen its airports as the country eases more restrictions.
According to Dr Gilbert Buckle, there should be a thorough assessment to determine and limit intake from countries with overwhelming rates of Covid-19 infections.
“These are high-risk countries where the virus is spreading,” he said.
This call comes in the wake of President Akufo-Addo’s hint of ongoing discussions to reopen the Kotoka International Airport by September 1.
Stakeholders including the Ministry of Aviation, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Ghana Airports Co. Ltd are in talks to ascertain how ready the country is to open the border by air.
Speaking to JoyNews, Dr Buckle explained that the move will not be alien since other countries have already toed that line.
According to him, the measure will step the potential surge in Ghana’s reducing Covid-19 cases.
"It will be negligent on our part not to recognise the potential risk of having on nationals or persons in these environment coming into the country,” he said.
The medical General Secretary further explained that recommendation has no sentimental undertones and is largely geared towards the protection of live of citizens.
By: Kenneth Atowe Darko
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
India:
Air India privatisation: At least 6, including Lufthansa and Etihad, in race for Maharaja - Financial Express
Ivory Coast
Côte d’Ivoire shuts air and land doors to Mali by order of ECOWAS
(Ecofin Agency) - Côte d’Ivoire announced on August 18 the closure of its land and air borders with Mali, until further notice, to comply with sanctions decided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
According to the Ivorian authorities, this hasty decision follows the ousting of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) after a coup the same day. ECOWAS announced the suspension of Mali from all of its decision-making bodies “with immediate effect, following the additional protocol on democracy and good governance, until the effective restoration of constitutional order.”
The regional body also decided to “close all land and air borders and to halt all economic, commercial and financial flows and transactions” between its other Member States and Mali. ECOWAS called on all of its partners to do the same.
By: Borgia Kobri
Source: www.ecofinagency.com
Nigeria
Airlines Record 80% Decline In Patronage
Domestic Flight Operations have declined by 80 percent.
Findings also showed the airlines recorded 1,934 flights since July 8, 2020 when airports were reopened for commercial flights, after over four months of airports shut down.
About 830 delays were recorded while only five flights were cancelled, and eight airlines operated during the period, it was learnt. They include Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Max Air, Dana Air, Ibom Air and Overland Airways.
Economic Confidential however reports that this is a far cry from the average monthly flights airlines recorded before the pandemic. The reopening began with the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
For this period, only 202,729 passengers were recorded, comprising of 105,505 inbound and 98,224 outbound passengers.
Averagely, airlines on the domestic routes record 1 million monthly passenger tally, but COVID-19 has crashed this. Airlines do about 20 percent of their capacity as patronage continues to drop while aircraft are parked, an official said.
“The slogan now is you don’t travel when it is not absolutely necessary, that is why you are seeing this but we are hoping that things would improve once the curve of COVID-19 was flattened.”
An aviation analyst, Tayo Ojuri said a survey in July showed that about 10 multinational organizations and 10 companies listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) still have travel restrictions for their staff.
He said the commencement of international flights slated for August 29 would also drive domestic traffic.
Source: economicconfidential.com
NCAA to Airlines - Fail to Report Incidents, Lose Licence
The Director-General, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, has said airlines who fail to report serious aircraft incidents during flight operations could lose their licences.
He said Mandatory Occurrence (incident) Reporting (MOR) is compulsory and airlines who default would lose their Air Operator Certificates.
The DG stated this Wednesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the NCAA and the Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) Joint Committee on the implementation of safety recommendations.
The 11 man Joint Committee will review NCAA's responses to Safety Recommendations issued by AIB on accidents and serious incidents. The committee has five members from each agency and one appointee from the Ministry of Aviation.
"It is expected that safety and accident investigation experts will have the opportunity to sit down together to review safety recommendations that have been proposed by the Bureau and the responses provided by the Authority, their implementation where necessary and the review of effectiveness of these measures with time."
AIB Commissioner, Mr. Akin Olateru, said: "The Joint Committee will also provide for the coordination of activities with regards to aviation occurrences, respect for the mandate and responsibilities of each organization, effective and efficient exchange of information and data amongst others."
While the NCAA regulates the industry, AIB investigates serious incidents and accidents.
Over the years he said the two agencies have worked together to ensure the effective discharge of their duties while ensuring that Safety is not only established but promoted to higher levels.
By: Chris Agabi
Source: allafrica.com
Romania
Romanian transport minister hopes to bring national air carrier Tarom to profit by 2024 - Romania Insider
Senegal
Milan Bergamo Airport has sights on Senegal
Milan Bergamo Airport continues to resume flights to many popular destinations while also adding numerous new routes to its growing network to meet the demand from travelers. Though the global pandemic has caused a worldwide reduction in passenger numbers, the Italian airport has begun to see a positive trend in the return of its regular schedule while also celebrating the announcement of several new links from the Lombardy gateway.
Witnessing a significant development for Milan Bergamo, the airport has confirmed Blue Panorama will launch a twice-weekly operation to Dakar from 23 October 2020. Already set to increase to three times weekly from mid-December, the link to Senegal’s capital city will become Milan Bergamo’s longest route and first destination in West Africa – boosting the airport’s growing range of African routes as the latest flights join those to Morocco and Egypt.
Commenting on the new service, Giacomo Cattaneo, Director of Commercial Aviation, SACBO says: “Last year there were more than 120,000 direct and indirect passengers between the Milan market and Dakar, so we are extremely happy Blue Panorama have realised the significant demand in the market. The area around the stunning city of Bergamo has one of the largest Senegalese communities in Italy and, with the airline being recently awarded the traffic rights to serve Senegal from the Italian CAA, we look forward to working with them during what will no doubt be a successful future.”
In addition, Milan Bergamo will launch new flights to Saint Petersburg from 15 Octoberber. Recognising a good-sized Milan market of close to 135,000 direct and indirect passengers last year, Wizz Air will initally commence a four times weekly service – increasing to daily in December – to Lombardy’s second Russian destination, joining Pobeda’s link to Vnukovo.
With a large and growing range of airlines – increasingly seeing more full-service carriers – Milan Bergamo welcomed its latest new carrier last month as Air Albania joined the airport’s roll call. Launching its four times weekly service to Tirana, the flag carrier joins Blue Panorama and Wizz Air on the popular link to the Albanian capital city.
While Air Arabia Maroc restarted links to Casablanca in mid-July – one of the specifically designated airlines permitted to fly by the Moroccan Government – its sister airline, Air Arabia Egypt, added Borg El Arab, in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, to its network from the Lombardy region having also restarted services to Cairo last month.
Adding to the continued resumption of Milan Bergamo’s schedule, Pegasus Airlines began to once again serve Sahiba Gökçen this month – the Turkish airline having passed 200,000 passengers on this city-pair last year – while, Albastar has reinstated essential weekend connections to its broad network in Southern Italy.
“It’s rewarding to see that, while it’s been a difficult year for all within aviation, we continue to ensure our efforts are directed to providing the best network Milan Bergamo can offer its customers,” adds Cattaneo. “Notwithstanding the pandemic, we are also progressing our infrastructure work. Having completed the extra-Schengen departures area, we are now preparing the brand-new extra-Schengen arrivals area which is expected to be ready before the end of September. To ensure we meet the demands of capacity, as well as keeping all our passengers safe, we’ve also begun the extension of the Schengen departures and arrivals area which are expected to be finished S21 in time for the rescheduled World Routes event which will take place in Milan.”
By: Harry S. Johnson
Source: www.eturbonews.com
Ukraine
UIA Cancels Flights To 12 Cities In September - Ukrainian News
United Kingdom
Loganair takes over London City-Isle of Man route from British Airways - Business Traveller
Fastjet nosedives as it plans AIM delisting amid concerns over future - Proactive Investors
Wizz Air is opening a new base in the UK - with flights to Spain, Greece, Italy and Malta - Wigan Today
United States of America
American Airlines to cut service to 15 cities, including New Haven - The Day
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