Air Peace extends flight operations to Kano, Yola

Nigerian carrier, Air Peace has announced plans to inaugurate  its Kano and Yola services on Feb.12 and 15 respectively. 

The airline made the announcement in a statement signed by its Corporate  Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, on Monday in Lagos. 

Iwarah said the services would cover Lagos-Kano-Lagos, Kano-Abuja-Kano, Lagos-Yola-Lagos and Abuja-Yola-Abuja.

He said the new routes were a confirmation of the seriousness of the airline's  pledge to connect many domestic, regional and international destinations this year and make air travel seamless.

“We are delighted to announce that Kano and Yola will be joining our fast-growing route network on Feb. 12 and 15 respectively.

" The new routes will come on stream just days before the inauguration of our flights to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar which is scheduled for Feb. 19.

“The huge expansion project is strategic to our vision to create dependable air connectivity and make travel experience seamless and comfortable. 

"We are reputed for our on-time performance, uncompromising disposition to matters of safety, affordable quality service and excellent pro-customer orientation. 

“These are the values we hope to bring to Kano, Yola and other routes we will be launching in the next few days," Iwarah said. 

According to him, the airline is not just expanding its route network, but is also massively growing its capacity in terms of equipment and human resources and positively impacting the economies of the states and countries it operates in.

“In just three years of our flight operations, we have increased our fleet to a size of 24 aircraft and provided thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

" We have no doubt that our entry into Kano and Yola will not only solve the challenges of air travel in the North of Nigeria, but also greatly lift the economy of the region and transform the lives of the people,” he said. 

      

Iwarah said the airline was also planning  to start its flights to Dubai, London, Guangzhou-China, Houston, Mumbai  and Johannesburg in 2018 as part of its expansion drive on the international route.

SERAP to Gov Ikpeazu: Restore Uzokwe as Abia State CJ or face legal action

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State to “immediately withdraw his illegal appointment of Justice Obisike Orji as the acting Chief Judge of the state and restore Justice Theresa Uzokwe, who was unlawfully removed by the State House of Assembly, back to her position as Chief Judge.”

 

The House of Assembly had on Friday passed a resolution suspending Justice Uzokwe as the state’s chief judge. The speaker, Mr. Chikwendu Kalu, while reading the resolution, set up 8-man ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against the judge, and mandated Governor Ikpeazu to appoint an acting chief judge pending the completion of the investigation by the committee.

 

But SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Timothy Adewale said, “Rather than using their executive and legislative powers to promote good governance and abolish laws granting double emoluments and large severance benefits to former governors, the Abia State government is denigrating the judiciary and displaying contempt for the rule of law.”

 

According to SERAP, “The purported suspension of Justice Uzokwe violates sections 292(1)(a)(ii) and 21(d) Part 11 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), and amounts to a blatant attack on the integrity and independence of the judiciary. No judge anywhere in Nigeria can be removed without the involvement of the National Judicial Council (NJC), no matter the level of allegations of misconduct against that judge.”

 

The organization said, “Governor Ikpeazumust rescind his illegal appointment of a new chief judge, and the Abia State House of Assembly must withdraw the apparently politically motivated suspension of Justice Uzokwe without further delay. Doing so will be entirely consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Raliat Elelu-Habeed & anor v Attorney General of the Federation and Attorney General of Kwara State (2012).”

 

The organization said, “If allowed to stand, the suspension of Justice Uzokwe would set a bad example to other state governments, and dangerously move them toward executive and legislative dominance and control over the judiciary. Should Ikpeazu and the House fail to restore Justice Uzokwe back to her position, SERAP will undertake appropriate legal action including before the NJC and the UN special procedure mechanisms, to seek justice and effective remedies in this matter.”

 

The statement read in part: “The suspension also infringes the constitutional principle of the separation of governmental powers. Constitutional guarantees are meant to protect the judiciary from the political caviling that removal power often engenders. The benefits of the integrity of the judiciary should never be supplanted by the temerity and excessiveness which political powers often breed.”

 

“An independent judiciary is the foundation upon which the entire structure of our constitution rests. The suspension of Justice Uzokwe is a serious threat to this independence, and any impression that this principle is being improperly eroded should be directly and speedily addressed.”

 

“Justice Uzokwe would seem to be a victim of the government’s plan to harass judicial officials in Abia State. Neither the House of Assembly nor Ikpeazu is constitutionally authorized to suspend Justice Uzokwe without the participation of the NJC.”

 

“The independence of the judiciary is a barrier to despotism and necessary to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws. This independence ought to be promoted and protected by the Abia State government. Executive and legislative invasions of it should never be allowed to stand.”

 

“A judge is in no sense under the direction of the government. The judiciary is in a place apart, and constitutionally independent. It is of supreme importance, not only that justice be done, but that litigants before the court and the public generally understand that it is being done and that the judge is beholden to no one but God, his/her conscience, and the judicial oath.”

 

“The framers of our constitution sought to establish the judiciary's independence and remove undue influence by both the executive and legislative branches by prescribing due process of law for removal of judges.”

 

Delta named 2017’s most On-time global airline

Delta Air Lines has been  named the World’s Most On-Time Airline for 2017 among mainline carriers by the aviation data and analytics company FlightGlobal, incorporating FlightStats and is the first U.S. airline to earn the industry-leading distinction in the nine years FlightGlobal’s FlightStats has presented its OPS Awards, according to a release by the company Tuesday.

In 2017, Delta’s mainline operation saw 85.94 percent of flights arrive within 14 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, the industry’s widely used definition of on-time, according to FlightStats.

“We are extremely proud of what Delta employees have been able to accomplish in service to our customers to drive a safe and reliable global operation,” said Gil West, Delta’s Executive Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. 

“The results reported by FlightStats are humbling and yet another proof point that Delta employees worldwide are redefining operational excellence. 

Hats off to all Delta employees who come to work every day looking for ways to make meaningful improvements to the airline and continue to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

Delta was also recognised as North America’s most on-time major carrier—a title that takes into account the Delta Connection regional operation. 

FlightStats reports that Delta, together with its regional partners, saw 84.06 percent of flights arrive on time in 2017, based on FlightStats’ analysis of flight status and arrival data pulled from over 600 global sources and data feeds.

Delta flies more than 180 million customers annually on approximately 5,000 daily mainline and Delta Connection flights.

 The airline achieved its strong operational performance in 2017 despite a string of hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean, and a snow storm at Delta’s largest hub in Atlanta in December.

 Still Delta recorded several company bests, including a record 242 days in 2017 without a mainline flight cancellation and 90 days in which mainline and Delta Connection were cancel-free.

Dana Air Makes List of Top 50 Brands 2017, partners IdeasHouse on in-flight sampling

For its innovations, CSR, popularity, National spread and online engagement, Dana Air, a subsidiary of the Dana Group of companies has made the list of top 50 brands 2017 for the 3^rd time consecutively, at the Brands Nigeria Leadership Forum held recently at Oriental Hotels, Lagos.

According to the CEO of Top 50 Brands Nigeria, Mr Taiwo Oluboyede, Nigeria is becoming more attractive to investors across the world inspite of our many challenges. More people are coming to invest and there is need to provide information about corporate Nigeria. 

The Brands that have made it today are homegrown brands that have shown resilience, contributed to the economy of Nigeria, have good national spread, innovative and have good online engagement and popularity.’’

The Communications Manager of Dana Air, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa while responding to the unveiling of Dana Air and Dana Group as one of Nigeria’s Top 50 brands for the 3^rd time consecutively said, ‘we are highly honored to have been listed among the top 50 brands in Nigeria. We are a responsible corporate citizen and giving back to the society, contributing positively to the economy of the country, and churning quality products are the ways we have shown commitment to the Nigerian dream.  

"Our investment across Nigeria and in various sectors of the economy, speaks volume of our commitment to continue to provide jobs for our people and assist the government to achieve a positive growth trajectory in the economy.’’

Speaking further he said: ‘We are nine years plus in the aviation industry and we have shown massive resilience in spite of the multiple challenges, providing value added services at all times and our guests should expect an all-round improvement in 2018.’’

On the sampling of drinks on its flights, kingsley said, Dana Air is always open to giving more to its guests and partnering Ideas House to sample a new brand of soft drink on our flights is just another way of achieving this.’’

Having flown over 2.7 million passengers in the last 9 years of its operation and received multiple awards for aviation excellence and corporate social responsibility, Dana Air was also unveiled as one of Nigeria’s 100 Most Respected Companies by Business Day Newspaper’s Research Unit.

 The airline is reputed for its innovative online products, world-class in-flight service and unrivaled on time performance. 

Sirika explains delay in completion of Abuja airport new terminal

The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has explained that completion of the new terminal building at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, was being delayed for several reasons.

Sirika, while inspecting the project on Tuesday, told newsmen that one of the causes of the delay was a foundational issue which had altered the master plan of the airport.

He explained that the planning of the project did not envisage that the building would lead to additional works, power and water supply.

The minister added that it was also discovered that the building would block both the control and fire towers which would require relocation.

He said that additional work was also required to link it with the existing terminal as well as expanding the apron to accommodate bigger air planes.

Another reason according to Sirika, is the insufficient capacity of the existing power and water supply in the airport to cater for the new building.

He said that all the challenges would result to requiring additional funding.

According to him, the project is being funded through 500 million dollars loan from Chinese EXIM bank and 100 million dollars counterpart funding from Nigerian government.

The quality of work is acceptable but the pace of work is not acceptable because this project should have been delivered by now.

“The contractor has told us some of the challenges he has been facing regarding some of the components of work and some additional works required for this project to be put into use.

“Unfortunately, some of these components are complex which would delay this job and some of them are from the foundation like that of the sewer and water.

“There is also the problem of the control tower blocking the access into the terminal apron and also the inadequate nature of the apron itself.

Lufthansa Group airlines change how Miles & More award miles are assigned

The airlines of Lufthansa Group are changing how award miles are credited to participants in the frequent flyer and reward programme  Miles & More.

 Beginning in March 2018, the number of award miles that are credited will be based on the price of the flight, i.e the price of the ticket plus any additional fees charged by the respective airline, and on the frequent flyer status of the participants in the programme. 

Under the old system, booking class or rather booking class and the length of the route determined the number of miles that were awarded. 

Lufthansa in Nigeria has a dedicated Miles & More desk at the city office in Lagos.

Going forward, Miles & More participants will be receiving four to six award miles per euro spent, corresponding with their particular booking habits and flight patterns. 

The new reward system applies to flights with the Lufthansa Group airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, as well as to all other Miles & More partner airlines, provided the ticket for the flight was issued by a Lufthansa Group airline.

Specifically, this means that Miles & More participants will always receive at least four award miles per euro spent on flights with the previously mentioned airlines. 

Members with frequent flyer status will receive six award miles per euro on flights with Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines as well as with United Airlines and Air Canada. 

This means that the bonus award miles that status members receive for flights with the network airlines and transatlantic joint venture partners will be doubling to 50 per cent, from currently 25 per cent. 

The same applies to the airlines Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Croatia Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines, which also participate in the Miles & More frequent flyer and reward program.

On flights with Eurowings, Brussels Airlines and all other Miles & More partner airlines, the award mile bonus will remain at 25 percent, which means that status members will receive five award miles per euro spent. 

Award miles can only be credited according to this new system if the tickets for the flight were issued by a Lufthansa Group airline, not by other airlines.

The frequent flyer status of participants, the privileges associated with that status and the allocation of status miles will not be affected by the new system for award miles. 

This change will also not have a fundamental impact on the number of award miles that are distributed by the airlines over all, or on the availability of flight rewards.

With this change, Lufthansa Group is setting up a flexible system for crediting award miles that links the number of awarded miles to the price of the ticket. 

With this change, the leading European aviation group is rewarding the purchase of higher-priced tickets more strongly than is currently the case.

The current system for crediting award miles, which is dependent on booking class or rather on booking class and the length of the route, will largely be eliminated for flights with Lufthansa Group airlines. 

In future, award miles will only be assigned according to the present system in rare cases. 

The old system will only be applied if Miles & More participants are traveling with a Lufthansa Group airline, but the ticket for the flight was issued by an airline outside Lufthansa Group or as part of a package tour.

 If the flight is booked with a different Miles & More partner airline and operated by one of those airlines, participants will also be awarded miles according to the old system.

The new reward system will be applied for the first time on March 12, 2018. This will give customers of the Lufthansa Group airlines and participants in the Miles & More programme enough time to take the transition to the new reward system into account in their travel plans. 

Miles for tickets that are booked before March 12, 2018 will be credited according to the present system, even if the trip itself begins on or after the cutoff date. 

The number of award miles that are credited per flight has repeatedly been brought in line with the development of ticket prices in the past, and lowered, especially in the lower-priced booking classes. 

The new reward system will result in an automatic allocation of award miles based on the sales volume that is generated by the purchase of the ticket. 

With this move, the Lufthansa Group airlines are creating a consistent system for assigning award miles. 

 And frequent flyers will continue to benefit from high levels of comfort and convenience when they travel: the length of the route will still be the relevant factor for awarding status miles, and privileges linked to frequent flyer status will remain in place.