Travel News

By Princess Etuk

Green Africa has announced the temporary suspension of its flight operations due to an unexpected issue with its aircraft lessor.

Despite efforts to manage the situation and prevent disruptions, the airline confirmed that flights would remain grounded until after the Eid al-Fitr holidays.

In a statement on Monday, the airline expressed regret over the inconvenience and assured passengers that it was actively working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

“We sincerely apologise to our valued customers who will be impacted by this disruption,” the airline said. “Please rest assured that we are actively working towards ensuring that we are able to resume operations in very short order.”

While Green Africa did not disclose specific details about the issue with its lessor, it reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and customer service.

The airline has advised affected passengers to stay updated through its official communication channels.

BY Jamie Brassington

The UK could shiver in a fresh Beast from the East in April, it is feared. Maps and data from WX Charts have revealed that the majority of the UK is set to plummet into frosty conditions from mid-April.

According to the data, snow could blanket cities including London, Newcastle and Birmingham on April 12. In Ireland, major cities including Dublin and Belfast could experience snow.

Most of Wales is also covered on the map, as well as Scotland. Giving its week-by-week verdict, which spans April 14 onwards, Netweather TV explained the "period may see the weather turn more unsettled at times with high pressure over northern Britain slackening and allowing low pressure systems and fronts to push in from the south-west at times."

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It states: "It does not look likely that we will move into a full-blown Atlantic westerly dominated regime, with slack areas of low pressure the more likely outcome, perhaps leading to a fair amount of showery weather at times with occasional longer outbreaks of rain, particularly in the south.

"High pressure is likely to often be close to the north which will probably again result in drier than average weather overall in most parts of Scotland. Relatively frequent easterly winds and lower pressure may result in low cloud being quite frequent near North Sea coasts of eastern Scotland and north-east England, but north-west Scotland is likely to remain mostly dry and sunny.

"Temperatures will probably be near to slightly above the long-term normal during this week, with rainfall totals below normal in most of Scotland, particularly the north-west, but a chance of above-average rainfall in south-western Britain.

Averaged over the UK, it will probably still be a little drier than normal. Sunshine is expected to be near normal for most of the UK, but below normal near north-eastern coasts and above normal in north-west Scotland."

Nick Finnis, meanwhile, said: "The outlook continues to remain dry for much of the country over the coming few weeks, perhaps for the first half of April, thanks to a persistent blocking high pressure system close to or over the British Isles. 00z GFS, below, shows most of the UK and the near continent dry as a bone for the 1st 10 days of April at least! More rain on the way for Iberia though this week - especially Portugal and western Spain."

Air Canada says demand for flights between Canadian and U.S. cities is weak for the spring and summer months, as Canadians respond to the trade war by avoiding trips south.

Bookings for transborder flights were down 10 per cent for the April-to-September period compared with the same period last year, as of mid-March, according to a presentation at the company’s annual meeting.

Air Canada is the largest Canadian airline and flies to more U.S. destinations than any other. “Am I concerned?,” Chairman Vagn Sørensen said in a response to a question from a shareholder during Monday’s meeting. “Yes, definitely, I’m concerned.”

Shares of Air Canada are down 35 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Air Canada and WestJet said in separate statements last week that geopolitical tensions are causing some consumers to choose not to take vacations in the U.S. The shift is part of a larger boycott of American products in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his repeated statements that he believes Canada should be part of the U.S.

Sørensen added that the company is seeing strong demand for transatlantic flights to European destinations. The airline announced Monday that it’s adding flights this summer to cities including Edinburgh, Paris, Athens and Rome.

U.S.-Canada routes were 22 per cent of Air Canada’s passenger revenue in 2024.

Air Canada focuses on staying “agile,” Sørensen said, maintaining enough flexibility to redeploy capacity when demand shifts.

Porter Airlines, a competitor to Air Canada, said Monday it has altered its summer schedule so that domestic routes are 80 per cent of its total capacity, up from 75 per cent in its original plan. The airline said it’s making “targeted frequency reductions in select U.S. markets” but that its overall presence on Canada-U.S. routes will still be larger than last summer. Porter has been expanding capacity as it deploys new Embraer E195-E2 jets.

UK-based Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. also warned Monday that ticket sales on flights originating in the U.S. have weakened in recent weeks, while demand from Europe to the U.S. has held up well so far.

The S&P 500 Passenger Airlines Index dropped more than 6 per cent early Monday before paring those losses to a 1.4 per cent decline as of 1:30 p.m. New York time.

Public opinion polls show that a large majority of Canadians have no interest in joining the U.S. and they disapprove of Trump. A poll by Leger Marketing released last week found only nine per cent of Canadians would like to be part of the U.S.

Mathieu Dion, Bloomberg News

By Ainsley Thomson

New Zealand is seeing “red hot” interest in its revamped golden visa program from the US and Europe as rising geopolitical tensions prompt wealthy people to consider options abroad, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said.

Applications for the Active Investor Plus visa open Tuesday in Wellington following an overhaul designed to make the program more appealing to affluent migrants. Changes include scrapping the English-language requirement, reducing the time investors must spend in the country, lowering minimum investment thresholds and simplifying investment categories.

BY  Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha 

Nigeria’s domestic air travel declined in 2024, driven by aircraft shortages and soaring ticket prices that placed air travel out of reach for many passengers.

Data from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) shows a 10 percent drop in passenger traffic, with numbers falling from 12.05 million in 2023 to 11.55 million in 2024.

The decline was caused by foreign exchange shortages, escalating maintenance costs, and regulatory hurdles, which forced airlines to ground planes and reduce operations.

BusinessDay had reported that the high cost of spare parts and maintenance forced several airlines in Nigeria to park their planes across various airports last year.

BusinessDay learnt that foreign exchange scarcity also forced some airlines to take spare parts from one grounded plane to fix others and keep them flying.

Passengers travelling from Lagos to second-tier airports such as Ilorin, Akure, Asaba, Benin, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Ibadan and Yola did not have the luxury of choosing airlines to fly due to the persisting aircraft shortages at Nigerian airports.

Limited airplanes have forced airlines to either reduce frequencies or suspend operations in and out of second-tier routes, paying more attention to first-tier or frequently used routes to maximise economic benefits.

The situation saw some airlines dominantly control certain routes, limiting passengers’ choices and cutting jobs previously created by multiple airlines at the airports.

It also had cost implications for passengers.

In 2023, a fare from Lagos to any of the second tier airports stood at an average of N65,000, but last year, a one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to any of these destinations jumped to between N100,000 and N300,000.

Olumide Ohunayo, director of research at Zenith Travels, explained that disposable income is one of the factors why fewer Nigerians travel by air, adding that there is a reduction in patronage.

According to Ohunayo, domestic travel is not generally improving for Nigerians but disposable income is not the only reason.

“Many airlines that operate into Calabar do not operate on a daily basis. Air Peace two times a week. Aero, twice a week. It is only Ibom Air that operates every day and with the 50-seater aircraft.

“So, there is still that mismatch between the product we are offering and the airport itself and the positions available. And we cannot continue to expect any miracle because disposable income is not enough. We also need to begin to work on the regulations. And in doing that, we have advocated a new regime of licenses should be done to encourage those other airports,” he said.

Ohunayo said people should be able to go to cities from other cities and state to state and this can only be done by allowing a new set of regulations that would allow smaller aircraft to operate.

Seyi Adewale, chief executive officer of Mainstream Cargo Limited, told BusinessDay that the principal implication of having few airlines fly certain routes is that the airline or airlines will determine the price of airfares on these routes and this is against the overall interest of the passenger.

“No opportunity for price discovery, fair competition, and choice.

“It also implies that if the airline has a technical issue, passengers will be stranded and this will significantly affect their social or business plans or engagements. The airlines, on the other hand, would be happy with this no-competition stance and potentially make ‘supernormal’ profit on these routes,” Adewale said.

He hinted that the sad reality is that there are no quick fixes as aviation generally requires medium to long-term planning.

He said airlines with current Air Operating Certificate (AOC) and Air Transport Licence (ATL) may need to enter into wet-lease agreements with international counterparts with (good fleet) capacity to quickly deploy two to four aircrafts and take advantage of the gap therein.

In addition to the grounding of aircraft, the suspension of Dana Air, a relatively low-cost carrier, which had six aircraft in its fleet, also impacted on the fleet operating the domestic routes.

Routes that Dana Air previously operated saw an increase in ticket costs.

Data obtained by BusinessDay from the NCAA last year showed that 13 domestic airlines operating in Nigeria operate a total of 91 aircraft. This data includes aircraft that have gone on maintenance.

Sources close to the NCAA told BusinessDay that apart from Dana Air that has been grounded, over half of the 91 aircraft have gone on maintenance and some have become grounded, which put a strain on the few operating planes.

Ibrahim Mshelia, CEO of West Link Airlines, stated last year that the dollar scarcity created significant challenges for airlines, as they struggled to secure funds and foreign currency to purchase spare parts and bring their aircraft back into operation.

“Most of their fleets are depleted. So, if the fleet is depleted, then people will choose routes that give them more money or routes that are favourable to operate with available airplanes.

“The injury is the delay in getting parts and dollars to pay for parts. The country has to make deliberate policies. These monies need to be made available to carriers because their operations are time-bound and if they don’t get the money on time, a lot of things happen.

“If airlines can’t find dollars to buy at a favourable rate, then it becomes a problem. It is the system that is creating a monopoly for the operators but not the operators creating the monopoly,” Mshelia explained.

By Adaku Onyenucheya

Transporting containers with goods from Apapa Port has become more expensive than other ports such as Tin Can and Lekki. The surge is due to multiple checkpoints managed by government, security, and regulatory task forces along the port access roads and extortion by truck associations.

Truckers must navigate a maze of security and regulatory checkpoints along the Apapa port access roads, from Ijora to Apapa and from Apapa to Mile 2, Creek Road and Eleganza.

At these points, money is collected from truckers to access the port, further inflating the haulage cost. According to recent findings, transporting a 40-foot container from Apapa Port to Alaba International and Aspanda markets costs N900,000. In contrast, the same journey from Tin Can Island Port costs N350,000 and from Lekki Port, N550,000. For a 20-foot container, the cost from Apapa port is N400,000.

Stakeholders also pointed to the irregularities within the NPA’s Eto Call-up system as one of the primary drivers of these high haulage fees. The Head of the Technical Department of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Adeshina Ajibola, highlighted the role of an unidentified cabal that has been selling one-way access call-up tickets for between N250,000 and N300,000 per truck.

The General Secretary of the Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC), Mohammed Sani, also confirmed that corruption at the port is crippling the haulage sector. He revealed that truckers have been waiting for a resolution to the issue, but it remains largely unaddressed, further exacerbating the cost of transporting cargo.

A clearing agent, Kehinde Odumuyiwa, lamented the increased difficulty importers are having using Apapa Port. He explained that cargoes from both Apapa and Tin Can Port are heading to the same market, yet the costs from Apapa are much higher, leading to increased competition from importers using alternative ports.

“All the goods go to the same market, but the cost of haulage from Apapa is just too high. We are now forced to charge N900,000 for a cargo that should only cost N380,000 to transport from Apapa to Lagos. It takes a week just to get a truck into the port, and on top of that, customs and clearing procedures have become even more cumbersome,” Odumuyiwa said.

Another clearing agent, Frank Aliakor, also verified that the cost of transporting containers from Apapa Port to Alaba International and Aspanda markets has reached no less than N880,000 for a 40-foot container, while the cost for a 20-foot container is N400,000.

Aliakor pointed out that it often takes days for trucks to even gain access to the port, with various security agencies and truck associations controlling access and collecting fees along the way.

“The challenge lies with the Eto Call-up system and the movement of trucks in and out of Apapa. The NPA, the Police, and other agencies all have task forces on the road, delaying trucks’ access to the port. As a result, truckers have to recoup these additional costs from importers, which drives up haulage fares,” Aliakor explained.

There has been a growing call from stakeholders to dismantle these corrupt checkpoints, with many believing that such actions would lower transportation costs. Aliakor noted that the truckers are passing on the charges they incur from these agencies and unions, inflating haulage fees.

“If these points of corruption and checkpoints are dismantled, the cost of cargo transportation will drop significantly,” he stated.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday announced the launch of Air Algérie’s inaugural direct flight service from Algiers to Abuja, scheduled for April 6, 2025.

This marks a step in strengthening the diplomatic and economic ties between Nigeria and Algeria.

According to a statement signed by the acting spokesperson for the ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the new route, which is the result of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the two countries, will be operated by the national carrier, Air Algérie, using a Boeing 737 aircraft.

This new service is expected to boost connectivity, encourage tourism, and facilitate trade and investment between Nigeria and Algeria.

It reflects both countries’ shared commitment to expanding cooperation in aviation, commerce, and people-to-people exchanges.

The statement read in part, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pleased to announce the commencement of Air Algerie inaugural direct flight service from Algiers to Abuja, scheduled for 6th April 2025.

“This historic development marks a significant milestone in the growing diplomatic and economic relations between Nigeria and Algeria.

“It is pertinent to state that it is the implementation of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between both countries which culminated in this successful venture.

The ministry also praised the efforts of the Nigerian Embassy in Algiers for its key role in making the flight a reality.

The inaugural flight is expected to carry the Chargé d’Affaires of the Nigerian Embassy in Algiers, Nigerian community leaders, and representatives from the Algerian government.

The Federal Government has extended congratulations to Air Algérie and offered its full support to ensure the success of the new service.

With affordable fares and Algeria’s proximity to Europe, the flight also offers Nigerians a convenient gateway to Europe, enhancing Nigeria’s position as a regional hub for business, tourism, and transit.

The statement added, “The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant aviation authorities, extends its warm congratulations to Air Algerie and assures all necessary support to ensure the success and sustainability of this new service.

“We believe this initiative will further strengthen the longstanding friendship between Nigeria and Algeria while opening new opportunities for mutual growth.

“The affordable fare structure and the proximity of Algeria to Europe would also provide Nigerians with a convenient gateway to Europe, thereby enhancing Nigeria’s position as a regional hub for business, tourism, and transit.”

The ministry encouraged citizens and businesses to take advantage of this new connectivity to explore opportunities for trade, tourism, and cultural exchanges between the two nations.

Anne-Laure MONDESERT

In a shake-up of long-standing travel rules, European nationals heading to the UK will from Wednesday need a mandatory entry permit, which the British government says will strengthen border security.

The Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) can be bought online in the next few days for £10 (12 euros), but the price is rising swiftly from April 9 to £16.

It is similar to the ESTA system in operation in the United States and will be mandatory for all European visitors to Britain from April 2, following its roll-out for US, Canadian and other visa-exempt nationals in January.

"By digitising the immigration system we are paving the way for a contactless UK border," Migration Minister Seema Malhotra said earlier this month when the website was opened for the first applications.

"Expanding ETA worldwide cements our commitment to enhance security through technology and innovation."

The permit allows visits of up to six months and is valid for two years. It is required for all travellers including minors and babies.

The application, which can be made on a smartphone app or through the government website, has been open to Europeans since the start of March.

From Wednesday, nationals of some 30 European countries -- including all those in the European Union except Ireland -- will need to carry the electronic permit to enter Britain, which left the EU in 2020.

The applicant will need to provide a photo of their passport and their face. The process takes around 10 minutes, according to the Home Office.

In most cases, an application decision is made within minutes. However, the government recommends allowing up to three working days for the application.

If successful, the ETA is digitally linked to the applicant's passport.

Flight passengers transiting airside without crossing the UK border are exempt from the scheme, after pressure from Heathrow which feared a loss of passenger footfall connecting through Europe's busiest airport.

Only Heathrow and Manchester airports have provisions for airside transit in the UK.

Almost 84 million passengers passed through Heathrow in 2024 -- a third from the neighbouring EU.

- Scheme expanded -

The scheme was first launched in 2023 for Qatar, before being extended to five regional Gulf neighbours.

In January, it was expanded to nationals of around another 50 countries and territories, including Argentina, South Korea and New Zealand.

Almost 1.1 million visitors were issued with ETAs before the end of 2024, according to the Home Office.

It is not applicable to UK residents or anyone who already has a UK immigration status.

ETA mirrors the ETIAS scheme for visa-exempt nationals travelling to 30 European countries, including France and Germany, which has been delayed until 2026.

BY Olasunkanmi Akinlotan

In continuation of the battle against touting, extortion, and unnecessary delay of passengers at Nigerian airports through multiple human checks, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has commenced the procurement of machines to replace human checks of luggage, particularly at customs checkpoints.

FAAN made this known over the weekend, during a tour of the airport, where our correspondent was shown the various newly installed machines.

The Director of Aviation Security at FAAN, Igbafe Afegbai, said the customs table where they physically check travellers’ barges will be dismantled in a week’s time.

Both industry stakeholders and travellers have, at different times, complained of the customs checking point/table within the Murtala International Airport Terminal. While stakeholders criticised the customs activities within the terminal, travellers also described it as an avenue for extortion.

Recently, Customs officers and the FAAN security chief, alongside other top officers at the authority, clashed with Customs officers at the airport over duty overlap.

This development forced the aviation workers to threaten a nationwide strike, an action scheduled for March 31, 2025.

The complaints and feedback from passengers may have forced FAAN to deploy the machines that are being installed at screening points at the Lagos International Airport to totally eliminate the manual search.

The machines, which include six pieces of Orion 927DX, a full-body scanner, and an itemiser bought by FAAN, have the capacity to exhibit images in the Classic 4-colour and the new proprietary Spectrum 4-colour options, providing a clear image, allowing improved security by quick and accurate identification of threats, and increasing throughput.

Afegbai stated that the machines are also designed to detect a wide range of explosives and narcotics in real-time during the scanning process by marking a potential threat on the X-ray image.

While speaking with journalists, Afegbai stressed that by the time FAAN finishes installing all the screening machines and the monitors, each security agent will have their own monitors, and the tables for physical human checks will be quashed.

“The tables you see will be a thing of history; you will not see any table here. There will be no physical contact because what we are also doing is that when we fix those monitors and the machines dictate unaccepted objects, the concerned officials will take the passenger and his or her luggage to designated areas for physical checks.

“The designated areas will also have CCTV cameras. This is to ensure the passengers are not being exploited. When the machines dictate something, the aviation securities call the relevant agencies, such as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Customs, and quarantine, amongst others, to follow up.”

He further explained that FAAN will be extending the machines to include six different monitors for the six agencies present at the airport, for their officials to monitor the bags through the screens.

He added, “Customs will have their screen. The quarantine will have their screen, and others will also have theirs. So, everybody will sit down while luggage goes through the machines.”

He further explained, “Before we bought the new machines, our machines were not detecting some drugs, but with the new machines, we will start to train some of the security agencies, like the NDLEA, the DSS, the immigration, and the quarantine.”

Also corroborating the FAAN security chief, head of department, ICT at the airport, Chima Oge, said the new Orion 927DX machine has features that help with the identification of organic materials accurately and quickly, either in range mode, which highlights the areas based on the range selected by the operator, and/or in interactive mode, which provides the operator the option to display the areas based on the value of the pixel.

He also revealed that the machine could detect undeclared funds, drugs and other illicit materials.

Olasunkanmi Akinlotan

BY Neil Shaw

Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants British manufacturers to be at the “forefront” of the electric vehicle “revolution”, as he confirmed a raft of new reforms in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. As part of his announcement Sir Keir will reinstate the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will also be altered, to help firms in the transition, and new hybrids will be on the market for another five years.

The Prime Minister said that the “new era of global instability” would push the Government to go “further and faster” to support businesses.

Under new measures to be announced on Monday, rules around fines for manufacturers who do not sell enough electric cars will be relaxed, and supercar firms will be exempt. Companies are grappling with the new rules from the White House, which mean a 25% tariff is now applied to foreign cars imported into the US, while other products face a 10% levy.

Jaguar Land Rover said over the weekend that they would “pause” shipments to the US, as they look to “address the new trading terms”.

Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond 2030, because they only manufacture a small number of vehicles per year. New hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars will be allowed to be sold until 2035. Petrol and diesel vans will be able to be sold until 2035, as well as all hybrid models.

Officials are also going to make it easier for manufacturers who do not comply with Government-mandated sales targets to avoid fines, and the levies will be reduced.

Officials have said that support for the car industry will continue to be kept under review, as the full impact of the tariffs announced last week becomes clear.

Describing the car sector as “the engine room of British industry”, Sir Keir wrote in The Times: “We want British car companies to be at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution at home and overseas.”

In the same piece, he said that “in this new era of global instability we will go further and faster to support businesses and workers”.

Sir Keir said that this will be “just the first in a series” of announcements from the Government, designed to provide “certainty” and “support for industry”.

The Prime Minister spent the weekend in calls with foreign leaders about the tariffs, after he promised to do “everything necessary” to protect Britain’s national interest.

After calls with the leaders of France, Italy and Australia in recent days, Sir Keir used conversations with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and leader of the German Christian Democratic Union party Friedrich Merz, to reiterate his disappointment at the measures announced by the White House.

Germany is one of the countries due to face higher tariffs in the coming days, as the EU has been hit with a 20% rate. Motoring industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has said that “greater action will almost certainly be needed” to safeguard manufacturers, given the tariff changes.

Chief executive Mike Hawes said that “given the potentially severe headwinds facing manufacturers following the introduction of US tariffs, greater action will almost certainly be needed to safeguard our industry’s competitiveness.

“UK-US negotiations must continue at pace, while the long-awaited industrial and trade strategies should prioritise automotive and be delivered at speed.”

The Conservatives have accused the Government of “firing on half cylinders” when support for car makers needs a “full throttle”.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “After nearly a year, Labour’s industrial strategy remains stuck on the grid and the Business Secretary and Chancellor are busy undermining competitiveness in the form of higher taxes and new employment red tape.”

The Liberal Democrats have said that the moves on their own “won’t be enough to protect the sector from the impact of Trump’s damaging taxes”.

Trade spokesman Paul Kohler said “ministers should also be exploring better incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles, including VAT cuts for public charging and postponing the planned increase in vehicle tax on electric cars”.

The US president said he would not back down on tariffs unless countries even their trade balance with the US. Speaking on Air Force One on a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said he did not want global markets to fall, but that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something”. He also said he had spoken to leaders from around the world.

“They’re dying to make a deal,” he said. “And I said, we’re not going to have deficits with your country. We’re not going to do that, because to me a deficit is a loss. We’re going to have surpluses or, at worst, going to be breaking even.”