JANUARY 20, 2021

By Dennis Agbo

 The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, has said that the coming of a new airline; United Nigeria, has increased the number of domestic flights at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu to seven airlines. FAAN also stated that the airline will increase its revenue base and afford passengers a wider choice of operators and routes.

AIIA Airport manager, Mrs. Cecilia Oguama made the disclosures when the new airline’s demonstration flight landed at the airport, on Wednesday, adding that its operations would also bring about an improved aviation service. 

According to Oguama, “What this landing implies is an increase of flight operations, an increase of more routes and increase of passengers too. It will affect our revenue positively because we expect with this flight, that means we have almost seven domestic airlines and I am sure they will expand the routes because apart from Lagos and Abuja we may have more routes, so passengers will increase choices. 

Our expectation is that they will bring excellence on board, they will bring timeliness, and that they will do things better and improve on the aviation sector.” Stressing the scale-up of FAAN’s revenue base, AIIA Head of Commercial department Mr. Victor Egu, stated that the United Nigeria Airline has added no less than ten percent to the Authority’s revenue generation. 

He also said that the airline will serve as a home base for the states of the southeast after the area had lacked such in the recent past. “This is a whole gamut of revenue source for us, because over time we’ve had just about two airlines operating in Enugu and right now having an additional airline will add almost at least 10 percent of our annual revenue from the aeronautic revenue to our revenue sources, so it’s a very big expectation from us in terms of revenue.

“The travelers here coming from all the states surrounding Enugu will be honoured with these services and in addition, this airport happens to be hosting this airline as their home base, and we have not had anything like that in the recent past, so we are gladdened by the opportunity.”

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JANUARY 20, 2021

If you are an African of means, of moderate wealth, please stop accepting the fancy but illusive idea that educating your children in the West, namely Europe and North America, is a good idea, enhances for your sense of achievement, of self-worth and/or is good for the inter-generational transfer of the fruits of your labour. Experience strongly suggests otherwise.

Many businesses in Africa do not outlive their founders.

Many families of wealth in Africa soon descend into poverty or average living following the death of the patriarch. There are too many shuttered big mansions in disrepair across the continent because said patriarch has died, and his sons and daughters are somewhere in Europe and North America enjoying the easy life, while in dead-end jobs, for the most part.

‘These children are unlikely to return to Africa’

After more than half-a-century of moderately wealthy Africans sending their children to the West to study, the evidence is now becoming clear that most of these children are unlikely to return to Africa to take their parents’ business and wealth to another level.

These children are more likely to use your money to create a life for themselves in the US and the UK and leave you still struggling at your business well into the moment you are practically at Heaven’s Gate (or Hell’s Gate, who knows).

READ MORE Africa, stop ruining your future by exporting needed human capital!

Your life’s work, all that you struggled to create, will either be inherited by relatives – some very distasteful ones too – or just ‘evaporate’. Imagine worrying from your grave about that abominable cousin now living in your mansion! Assuming of course that your doors are not shuttered forever, and everything lost.

Keep your eyes open

Look around you and you will see what I am talking about.

Do not think that your children will not be like “Okon’s children”: your neighbour who died not too long ago and whose business has since been closed, whose big agricultural plantation is dying, while the paint his house has begun to peel away and  the once beautiful compound has gradually been overtaken by weeds.

Clearly, you did not build your beautiful mansion for roaches, rodents, bats, and perhaps, a lone security guard. There are way too many estates, many businesses, many offshoots of dynasties of wealth across Africa that have died because children were sent overseas by their parents to study with the hope that they would return before to inherit the estate and assets. Instead, your children fly in for your funeral, sell off what they can, and zoom off on the next flight. Is that all that your life was for?

Go local, go continental, but stay in Africa

If you are a person of wealth in Africa, have your children attend local universities. Or some university in another African country, a country perhaps poorer than yours so that they must return. You can even send them to India or the Philippines. But not to Europe, the USA or Australia.

Do not subsidise your children to kill your life’s work. If your child wants to go the UK and USA, he/she should pay for it alone. You daughter/son does not have to have an MBA to manage your business, you can always hire one. Your son/daughter does not have to be a lawyer to handle the legal affairs of your business, you can always hire one. With money, you can buy all the skills you want.

Let civil servants, international civil servants and NGO employees, teachers and soldiers educate their children in the West. If they do not come back, society would not lose much; most of the children of this group will come back to become, like their parents, civil servants and teachers and soldiers, not entrepreneurs, not wealth creators and not asset creators and builders.

Allowing them to remain in the West could be actually welfare-improving: they will send remittances back home to their retired parents on government pensions and to help siblings and relatives.

Their remittances could even seed dynasties of wealth if properly invested. And the children of politicians and the rentier class? Most will return to continue the political dynasty. Unless their parents used their overseas studies as a conduit to siphon off their loot to safety in corrupt western banks and financial institutions or to launder money in real estate.

No Kagame or Kenyatta or Mandela will want to live abroad indefinitely where their names and pedigree may not travel far in social and business circles.

The real loss

Our societies lose when the children of the entrepreneur, the businessman/woman, the wealth and job creator, stay behind in the West after their studies, where their social worth is less than it would be were they to return to Africa to grow their parents’ firms and businesses.

Do not get me wrong! Society still loses when the children of civil servants, university professors, NGO workers, customs officials choose to remain in the West after completing their studies. But, it is easier for Africa to replace Cheikh Anta Diop and Kofi Anan than it is to replace Strive Masiyiwa and Aliko Dangote. It’s easier to replace Sir Louis Mbanefo than to replace Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Words of advice

No wealth painfully created should needlessly “evaporate” into the ether. Africa’s entrepreneurs and wealth creators, if they must, should send their children to study in countries where they can easily “recover” them and bring them home to carry on with the task of building dynasties of wealth.

JANUARY 20, 2021

The trial will make providing documentation easier

Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline have partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to launch a new COVID-19 travel pass.

Passengers flying on either UAE airline can use the IATA Travel Pass app to help them easily and securely manage their travel and comply with travel protocols, including government requirements for testing and vaccination.

The travel pass will initially be offered on a trial basis to passengers travelling on selected flights from Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the first quarter of 2021.
If the trial is successful, the pass will be extended to other destinations in Etihad and Emirates’ network.

The travel pass allows passengers to create a digital passport to receive test results and will verify if they are ready to complete a journey in line with up-to-date regulations and requirements.

Passengers will be in control of their own data and can, if required, share results and information with governments and the airline.

"COVID-19 tests and vaccinations will be key to get the world flying again. Since August 1, 2020, Etihad is the only airline requiring a pre-departure negative PCR test result for all passengers worldwide, and again on arrival in Abu Dhabi, giving our guests the added assurance of safety when they travel with us," said Mohammad Al Bulooki, COO Etihad Aviation Group.

"A high priority for Etihad is for our guests to have an easy, secure and efficient way to identify and verify their information. Being one of the first airlines globally working with IATA as a pioneer partner on the IATA Travel Pass is a big step forward for Etihad’s guests and for the industry."

The IATA travel pass collates information including regulatory entry requirements and test centres, verified certificate issuance, digital identity and offers passengers the ability to share their tests results along their journey via their mobile device.

Nick Careen, IATA Senior Vice President for Airport, Passenger, Cargo and Security said: "This is the first step in making international travel during the pandemic as convenient as possible giving people the confidence that they are meeting all COVID-19 entry requirements by governments. As borders re-open, IATA Travel Pass will be further enhanced with more capabilities to meet all governments testing or vaccination verification requirements and Emirates customers will be among the first to have these services."

JANUARY 20, 2021

Stakeholders in the aviation sector, as well as residents of South-East, on Wednesday, hailed the arrival of another airline at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.

The United Nigeria Airline touched down at the Airport Wednesday afternoon, amidst jubilation by passengers and stakeholders.

DAILY POST gathered that this brings to 7, the number of airlines operating from the Airport.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the demonstration flight landed, the Manager, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Mrs. Cecilia Oguama said the development would boost activities within and outside the Airport.

She said, “we are glad for the increase of flight operations, increase of passengers too. It will affect our revenue positively because with this flight now, we have almost 7 domestic airlines.

“So, passengers will have more choice, they are starting with Lagos and Abuja and I know very soon, they will expand to other routes.

“My expectation is that they will bring excellency on board, they will bring timeliness on board and they will improve generally on the system.”

Also speaking, Mr. Victor Egbo, HOD Commercial, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, re-echoed the joy shared by the Airport Manager.

Egbo said, “This is a whole gamut of revenue source for us; overtime we had just about two airlines operating from Enugu. Just now today, having an additional airline, we have at least an additional 10 percent of our annual revenue, aeronautic revenue source.

“It is a very big thing for us. And also for Enugu and the people of the South-East, this comes with a general improvement on the economy.

“This airport will also be hosting this airline as its home base, we have not had anything like that in the recent past.”

A passenger, Mr. Jude Emenike said he was delighted that more airlines were now operating from Enugu.

“This is no longer a time we had no choice to make. I am happy that another airline has arrived at this Airport, especially as its base. It will in no small means boost not just the economy of the airport but Enugu State and beyond.

“It’s a good thing and we the passengers are happier for it,” he said with joy.

Another passenger, Miss Jane Obi told our correspondent that her expectation is that the airline should make a difference in the area of timeliness.

“Since Enugu is its operational base, I expect that timeliness should be their watchword. I am happy that we now have a variety of choices to make,” she noted.

JANUARY 21, 2021

By Wole Oyebade

At least two foreign airlines have begun trial runs of the new travel pass created by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information.   IATA Travel Pass enables passengers to create a ‘digital passport’ to verify their pre-travel test or vaccination meets the requirements of the destination. They will also be able to share the test and vaccination certificates with authorities and airlines to facilitate travel.

The new app will also enable travellers to manage all travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout the travel experience.

 
As at Tuesday, United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) carriers – Emirates and Etihad – have enlisted into the programme.
 
Emirates airline, along with dnata, is among the first transport and air services organisations in the world to offer employees the option to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
 
The Emirates Group also rolled out the COVID-19 vaccination programme for its substantial UAE-based workforce in coordination with the Dubai Health Authority, and the Ministry of Health and Prevention. The inoculation drive began on Monday, January 18, with priority being placed on its frontline aviation workforce, including Cabin Crew, Flight Deck and other operationally focused roles.

Prior to a full rollout of the travel pass, Emirates will implement phase 1 in Dubai for the validation of COVID-19 PCR tests before departure.   In this initial phase, expected to begin in April, Emirates customers travelling from Dubai will be able to share their COVID-19 test status directly with the airline even before reaching the airport through the app, which will then auto-populate the details on the check-in system.   Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, Adel Al Redha, said while international travel remains as safe as ever, there are new protocols and travel requirements with the current global pandemic.   “We have worked with IATA on this innovative solution to simplify and digitally transmit the information that is required by countries and governments into our airline systems, in a secure and efficient manner. We are proud to be one of the first airlines in the world to pilot this initiative, which will provide an enhanced customer experience and conveniently facilitate our customers’ travel needs.”

IATA Senior Vice President for Airport, Passenger, Cargo and Security, Nick Careen, added that they were proud to work with Emirates to make IATA Travel Pass available in the Middle East region.

 
“With its global customer base and network traffic, Emirates as a partner will also bring invaluable input and feedback to improve the Travel Pass programme. This is the first step in making international travel during the pandemic as convenient as possible, giving people the confidence that they are meeting all COVID-19 entry requirements by governments.
 
“As borders re-open, IATA Travel Pass will be further enhanced with more capabilities to meet all governments testing or vaccination verification requirements and Emirates customers will be among the first to have these services.”
 
Within the IATA Travel Pass app, the integrated registry of travel requirements will also enable passengers to find accurate information on travel and entry requirements for all destinations regardless of where they are travelling from. It will also include a registry of testing and eventually vaccination centres – making it more convenient for passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.
 
The platform will also enable authorised labs and test centres to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers. The global registry, managed by IATA, will manage and allow the secure flow of necessary information amongst all stakeholders and to provide a seamless passenger experience.

JANUARY 21, 2021

BY  Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

 

TWENTY-FOUR countries have imposed a travel insurance, including COVID-19 treatment fees on travellers, acording to Allianz Travel.

Allianz said they are required to benefit from such coverage when travelling to the some destinations.

The destinations include China, Russia, Algeria, Cuba, Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Bahamas, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jordan, Lebanon, Jamaica, Namibia, Nepal, Paraguay, Pakistan, Seychelles, South Africa, Thailand, Sint Maarten (NL), Ukraine.

Other countries such as Dubai or French Polynesia do not impose a travel insurance yet strongly recommend it.

Some airlines are working with insurance companies to integrate COVID-19 risk in their coverage.

JANUARY 21, 2021

Newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden has reversed a Donald Trump policy that restricted the granting of immigrant visas to Nigerians.

In January 2020, Trump had expanded curbs on immigration to include six more countries, including Nigeria.

At the time, the US government said the policy was designed to tighten security for countries that don’t comply with the U.S. minimum security standards or cooperate to prevent illegal immigration.

But the Biden administration, which campaigned partly on a message of diversity, is seeking to re-open America to the world.

The reversal is part of a 10-day onslaught of executive actions intended to overturn key Trump policies without waiting for Congress, on topics ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change and criminal justice, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Biden has halted the US exit from the World Health Organization, stopped construction of Trump’s cherished wall on the Mexican border, and rescinded a ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority nations.

He has also committed the United States to rejoining the Paris climate accord, blocked an oil pipeline project, and froze Arctic drilling in a raft of executive orders signed hours after taking office Wednesday.

JANUARY 21, 2021

The Dutch airline KLM will suspend all its intercontinental flights and some European routes from Friday now that the Netherlands requires a rapid coronavirus test before entry.

On Wednesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced additional measures in the fight against the coronavirus, including a temporary ban on flights to the United Kingdom, South Africa and South American countries, pending a new quarantine law.

Travellers must also undergo a rapid test before travelling to the Netherlands, followed by a standard PCR test on arrival, which Rutte called “a double lock on the door.”

However, KLM sees many problems with this mandatory rapid test policy, stating that it is now impossible to operate intercontinental flights. All the more so as staff must also be tested in this way.

“We cannot run the risk of our staff being stranded somewhere. This is why we are stopping all intercontinental flights from Friday and all flights to European destinations where crew members have to spend the night,” the company said.

This also applies to cargo flights and repatriation flights, according to the airline.

The new measures announced by the care-taker government of Prime Minister Rutte do not come as a surprise. Some weeks ago, the Netherlands decided to require a negative corona test at most 72 hours before arrival to the country. Even passengers on planes making a stop at a Dutch airport, without having to disembark the planes and wait in a terminal, were required to do the test.

Asked by The Brussels Times if such a requirement was in line with the European Commission’s guidelines on travel restrictions, a Commission spokesperson replied that it was not aware of the specific measure and therefore could not comment on it. The spokesperson said that the question should be addresed to the Dutch authorities. However, they declined to respond.

JANUARY 22, 2021

It was excitement galore in Enugu, Wednesday afternoon as a demonstration flight registered 5N-BWZ, belonging to United Nigeria Airlines, landed at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu.

Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other stakeholders who witnessed the flight touch ground at exactly 2:05pm, expressed the optimism that it would boost business activities in the region. 

FAAN said that the coming of the new airline would, in a matter of weeks, increase the number of domestic airlines at the airport to seven.

FAAN further stated that United Nigeria would increase its revenue base and afford passengers a wider choice of operators and routes.

Oguama said: “What this landing implies is an increase of flight operations, increase of more routes and increase of passengers too. It will affect our revenue positively, because we expect with this flight, it means we have almost seven domestic airlines and I am sure they will expand the routes because, apart from Lagos and Abuja, we may have more routes. So, passengers will increase choices. Our expectation is that they will bring excellence on board, they will bring timeliness and that they will do things better and improve on the aviation sector.”

JANUARY 22, 2021

By Chinedu Eze

Air Peace has announced the resumption of flights into Dubai via Sharjah from February 5, 2021. This is as the airline has also increased its flight frequency to and out of Enugu.

Spokesperson of the airline, Stanley Olisa, disclosed this in a media statement, stating that the Dubai via Sharjah service would be operated once a week.

"We are delighted to announce that we shall be resuming flights to Dubai via Sharjah on February 5 and passengers can start booking on the website or the mobile app. Lagos-Dubai will operate on Fridays while Dubai-Lagos will be on Saturdays", Olisa said.

He added that the flight frequency would be increased subsequently depending on observed passenger traffic.

"We urge our esteemed passengers to comply with all established COVID-19 protocols guiding international air travel", the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Air Peace has also disclosed that it now operates additional flights into Enugu, hinting that these new flights are in response to popular demand and a reflection of the airline's resolve to reduce the air transportation burden of Nigerians.

The airline had launched its second international route-South Africa- in December 2020, and has other international destinations in the offing, such as Mumbai-India, Guangzhou-China, Houston-US and London.