UK and Nigeria Agree Tentative Accord to Bilateral Disagreement
Aviation authorities in Nigeria and the UK have reportedly reached a tentative agreement that will safeguard air links between the two countries after politicians in the African carrier threatened to pull some of British Airways’ rights to fly to Nigeria. The impasse had developed, it is understood, after Arik Air was forced to cancel its Abuja – London route this winter after failing to secure slots at London Heathrow. According to the news reports, when it came to launching the Abuja – London route Arik Air was unable to secure slots at London Heathrow. But, rather than fly to another London airport and the associated set-up and support costs, the airline instead chose to rent some slots from another carrier. However, ahead of the Northern Winter 2011/2012 it was unable to secure any slots at the airport and was forced to suspend the route. An estimated 170,000 O&D passengers flew between Abuja and London Heathrow in the past year, with around 31 per cent making use of the Arik Air service, with average fares around a third of the price of those being offered by British Airways. Under the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) airlines are permitted to offer up to six daily flights between two countries with the allocations split evenly between the two sides. The UK entitlement is currently taken up with British Airways offering daily flights to Lagos and Abuja and Virgin Atlantic Airways a daily link to Lagos. From the Nigerian side, Arik Air currently offers a daily Lagos service and had operated until this winter a flight from Abuja. National carrier Air Nigeria also plans to launch a daily connection between Lagos and London, albeit serving Gatwick Airport. However, just days after the Arik Air story hit the African press it emerged that Nigeria was threatening to reduce British Airways’ rights at Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport meaning that it would only permitted to operate three weekly flights. The final deadline to resolve this issue was this week and according to local reports an agreement of sorts has now been reached to retain the current flight schedule until the end of the year. "The issues are being resolved and negotiations with the British government are ongoing. In the meantime BA flights will continue seven times a week to Lagos until the end of December," Joel Obi of the Nigerian Aviation Ministry told Reuters. It is understood that under the terms of the deal, Arik Air will once again be permitted access to London Heathrow to resume its service from Abuja. However, the Nigerian Aviation Ministry has warned in a statement that it “will not stand idly by while Nigerian flag carriers are unfairly treated when BASA agreements clearly state otherwise,” said a statement from the ministry earlier this week said.
LAM Mozambique Set to End Lisbon Service?
LAM Mozambique could be set to drop its sole long-haul route and only connection to Europe after closing reservations for its Maputo – Lisbon service from later this month. According to the airline’s latest GDS inventory the twice weekly route, currently operated by a leased Boeing 767-300ER, will close from November 23. Flights on this route were only relaunched earlier this year as part of a revised business arrangement with TAP Portugal. The European flag carrier also offers two flights per week and it is possible that LAM may simply codeshare on its flights in the future. An estimated 56,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, up 33.0 per cent on the previous 12 months. LAM holds a 34 per cent share of this traffic, carrying an estimated 19,000 O&D passengers during the period; its fares being on average around 25 per cent cheaper than those offered by TAP and popular with outbound and price-sensitive leisure travellers.
Air Mauritius Warns of EU Passenger Decline
Air Mauritius has warned that the current European debt crisis is impacting its business significantly saying that consumers are increasingly postponing or cancelling their spending on leisure activities, such as holidays in Mauritius. Although the carrier reported a strong first quarter, its second quarter performance was weak as a €4.8 million profit in this period last year translated into a €6.3 million net loss, increasing first semester losses to €17.7 million, compared with € 6.8 million last year. The US debt episode, followed by the European debt crisis, hit the still recovering economies very hard and consumer confidence is at a low point, according to the airline. This depressed environment primarily hurts the tourist industry and the airline has shifted its network capacity away from its traditional European cities into emerging markets. This has helped boost passenger traffic, up 4.4 per cent to 336,391 passengers in the second quarter and 3.8 per cent to 608,750 passengers for the first half of the year, with loads of 78.6 per cent and 76.5 per cent being reported, respectively. The European market remains key to the airline but it is concerned the economic downturn appears to have set in for the long term in the continent. The airline acknowledges that the number of tourists travelling from Europe is “hardly growing” and even major markets such as Italy and the UK are down on last year. “France, which is the largest market for Mauritius and Air Mauritius, “seems to be running out of steam,” according to the carrier. While the shift in growth over the last two years towards emerging markets such as India, China, South Africa and Australia is “reaping rewards” – they remain “small in relation to the European market,” it adds. The airline is now reviewing its business model so as to cope not only with the recession in the airline industry, but also the downturn in the Mauritian tourism industry as a whole.
Air Namibia Boosts European Flights
Air Namibia is to increase capacity to Europe to support an increase in demand for travel to the South African country. The airline currently offers six flights per week between Windhoek and Frankfurt, but will introduce a seventh frequency from March 25, 2012, enabling it to offer business and leisure passengers a daily schedule. Air Namibia is currently the only airline operating frequent links to Europe from the country and carried around 104,000 O&D passengers on its route to Frankfurt in the last year. The airline has previously also served London but decided to rationalise its operations and focus solely on its largest market, Germany. Although representatives of the airline would not be drawn on the matter when it was discussed at the World Travel Market (WTM), it is known that Air Namibia holds slots at London Gatwick for winter 2011/2012 and could resume flights to the UK in the future.
Ethiopian Postpones Seychelles Launch
Ethiopian Airlines has cancelled the launch of its new flight between Addis Ababa and Mahe in the Seychelles. The carrier was due to launch flights today (November 15) but revealed last week that it was postponing the opening of services “until further notice”, due to “operational reasons”. In a statement, the airline said it “regrets the inconvenience caused” by the flight postponement and was taking “all steps to take care of its passengers and rebook alternative flights”. Ethiopian Airlines had first revealed its plans to launch the route in September and was scheduled to offer three flights per week using a mix of Boeing 737 Next-Generation variants. The airline has not confirmed a revised start date, although its GDS inventory has January 22, 2012 as the new potential launch date.
Related Content
