Travel News

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his government is making progress on cutting the number of people coming to the UK from France on small boats, though he struggled to fend off questions about whether adverse weather is the main reason behind the year-on-year decline this year.

“Our plan is working,” Sunak said at a press conference in Dover, southern England on Monday, citing a 20% decline in crossings between January and May this year compared to the same period in 2022. “But we are not complacent.”

Read More: Sunak Moves to Curb Migration Citing Strain on UK Services

Sunak’s “stop the boats” effort is one of his five flagship promises - alongside halving inflation, growing the UK economy, reducing debt and cutting NHS waiting lists - against which he wants to be judged at a general election expected next year. Facing a double-digit poll deficit against the opposition Labour Party, stubbornly high inflation and recent poor local election results, Sunak is under pressure to show he’s making progress on those pledges. 

Asked whether the decline has been due to particularly poor weather in the Channel in the first half of 2023 - a key determinant of crossings - Sunak pointed to the higher number of migrant arrivals in other parts of Europe as evidence the UK’s plan is working. He said a British deportation deal with Albania and enhanced cooperation with France is bearing fruit.

During the press conference, Sunak was asked whether the fact that no small boats had arrived for several days played a part the timing of his visit to Dover. “There’s many things I can control, the weather is not one of them,” the prime minister replied.

The danger for Sunak is crossings surge again in the summer months, when the majority of journeys typically occur. Sunak declined to specify a figure for what would constitute an acceptable number of crossings under his flagship policy, saying it would be for others to judge.

“I’ve always said this won’t be fixed overnight,” he said. “I will do what is necessary to achieve it.”

Sunak’s government has been trying to make the UK a less attractive destination for people arriving via routes it considers to be illegal, though ministers have faced a barrage of criticism that it means many asylum seekers have no available options for reaching the country.

The Illegal Migration Bill, due before the House of Lords on Wednesday, will let officials detain migrants who arrive through unrecognized channels. The government wants to return many of them home — or to Rwanda.

Ministers are concerned a record 606,000 more people moved to Britain than departed last year despite a promise to reduce immigration.

African trade experts have identified difficult border checks, harassment, solicitation from security officials, kickbacks from traders and bad roads as barriers hindering the maximisation of opportunities in Intra-Africa trade.

This was disclosed in the latest edition of Pathway Africa magazine obtained by our correspondent from the Ministry of Aviation.

The Secretary-General, African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, Lucia Quachey, was quoted as saying, “Only a few hundred kilometres separate Lagos, Nigeria, from Accra in Ghana but for the thousands of traders who ply this route, the journey through these routes can take a full day. Customs officials and police at roadblocks will make you unload and unpack every little package in order to delay you for hours.”

She further advocated the dismantling of various tariffs and non-tariff barriers and the building of infrastructure to boost trade.

AfCFTA project aims to ease conditions for commerce between Africa’s 55 nations, eliminating barriers and increasing trade, which is projected to have an enormous impact on the continent, its 1.3 billion citizens and an estimated $3.4tn GDP.

Similarly, the Secretary-General, Abuja Memorandum of Understanding, Sunday Umoren, called for active collaboration of private sectors and development partners.

He emphasised the need to engage carriers and vessel owners in delivering on AFCFTA.

“Shipping is the bedrock of globalisation it helps in ensuring that the benefit of trade and commerce are more evenly spread across countries

“All African industrial policymakers should be bold in developing and implementing an extensive range of reforms and trade facilitation measures needed to achieve the substantial rewards and dividends that the agreement offers,” he said.

Umoren urged that nothing should stop the region from having a ship-owning capacity to eliminate the burden and impact of the high freight rate of foreign ships.

 Meanwhile, a financial expert, Jonathan Aremu, has noted that essential domestication of laws and policies is being ironed out, adding the final details will be rectified through assent by the national assembly and relevant ministries.

Speaking in a telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Professor of Economics at Covenant University said, “Economic integration means countries coming together to discuss the type of trade and what we will be doing in common but what is delaying the process is that some essential documentation has to be done. The policies have to be implemented in domestic laws and will be sent to the National Assembly for assent. After this, the signed policies will be sent to different ministries that will participate because you need one approval or the other from these ministries and the relevant laws in those ministries have to be adjusted to accommodate what we have rectified. While the process is ongoing, nobody can say anything but a lot is ongoing on.

“There is pressure on countries involved because they want it to work, a lot of traders want to participate as well but things must be put in place else if there is a mistake, the culprit will be severely punished.”

BY Danny Lee, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s best airline is cooling on the world’s fanciest cabin seat. 

Qatar Airways, which routinely pockets the top prize at the Skytrax World Airline Awards, won’t have first-class berths on its next-generation long-haul aircraft, according to Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker. Al Baker said the investment in the most luxurious seats doesn’t justify the returns, given that Qatar’s business-class offering provides much of the same perks.

“Why should you invest in a subclass of an aeroplane that already gives you all the amenities that first class gives you,” said Al Baker, speaking in an exclusive hour-long interview in Istanbul on Saturday. “I don’t see the necessity.”

Phasing out first class on long-haul routes isn’t without strategic risk. The move runs counter both to Qatar’s five-star image and an industry trend that has seen airlines from Deutsche Lufthansa AG to Qantas Airways Ltd to Air France doubling down on their high-end offerings. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said more leisure travelers are looking for a special treat, and that the front of his aircraft have never been fuller.

For Al Baker, however, the future lies in business class, which Qatar has branded its “Q-suite” product. That’s why there will be no first class on its future next-generation Boeing Co. 777X aircraft. These jets will become the biggest that the airline operates once it eventually retires all 10 of its Airbus SE A380s, which still contain 8 first class seats.

Read more: Qatar Airways Sees Robust Travel Demand Amid Capacity Squeeze

Cabin classes have become more elastic over the years, with carriers squeezing in premium economy between business and budget seat rows. First class has remained more of a gimmick that corporate clients limit to top executives, or that attracts ordinary passengers splurging on a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience.

Read more: First Class Gets Even Fancier as Airlines Take Luxury Up a Level

Supply Chain

The aviation supply chain remains a great source of concern for Qatar Airways, as shortages of parts and snowballing backlogs in the production line hit plane deliveries.

Al Baker, speaking ahead of the annual International Air Transport Association gathering of some 300 airlines, said his airline is about 15 planes short of the 25 it expected to take over of this year — pointing to issues on the Boeing 787, the Airbus 321neo and the A350 jets.

Read more: Boeing CEO Warns Supply Woes Could Last ‘Very Long Time’

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has sought to temper expectations of a quick fix to supply-strain constraints, warning the aerospace industry could face half a decade worth of disruption to all important aircraft deliveries.

“What is happening is a vicious circle and this is the industry’s biggest challenge,” said Al Baker. “Our growth ambitions will have to be capped with the shortage of capacity.”

Qatar Airways said it doesn’t expect its own delivery delays will be resolved before the end of next year.

Australia Expansion

In terms of expansion, the Gulf carrier has its eyes on Australia, Al Baker said. Qatar Airways is bidding to expand flights and also plans to back new partner Virgin Australia against arch-rival Qantas. Al Baker responded with a smile when asked about an investment in Virgin Australia. While no discussions had taken place, he said “it depends, we’ll see”.

The carrier is seeking to add an extra daily service each into Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. It currently operates a daily flight into all cities except Melbourne, which is twice a day.

Qatar Airways is confident the expansion will be viewed favorably, said Al Baker, pointing out that he continued to operate international flights to most countries during the pandemic — whereas many national airlines stopped flying outright. 

“I don’t think is a very big ask to the authorities,” Al Baker said. 

(Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM is looking to replace a set of aging widebody aircraft, seeking to pick up more fuel-efficient units from Airbus SE and Boeing Co. that can serve surging long-haul travel demand. 

The airline group is shopping for replacements for Airbus A330 jets that average 20 years and a batch of two-decade old Boeing 777s, Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith said in an interview at the IATA annual general meeting in Istanbul. The carrier has already retired its fleet of Boeing 747s and A380s and has added more modern 787 Dreamliners and Airbus’s A350 aircraft. 

Part of the evaluation process includes the new reality of having to circumnavigate Russian airspace following the invasion of Ukraine. That detour can add several hours to a flight and changes the requirements for the aircraft, Smith said. 

“A plane that is optimized at 15 hours and one that’s optimized at 12 is not necessarily the same, so this of course now plays into the evaluation, where a year and a half ago would not have been the case,” Smith said.

Any fleet replacements are likely to happen in or after 2025 because no slots are available any sooner, Smith said. Airlines across the world are snapping up widebody jets as long-haul travel rebounds and stretches out waiting lists for newer, more fuel efficient jets.

Smith reiterated that the airline group remains interested in Portuguese carrier TAP, highlighting the airline’s “interesting geographical positioning” and its close ties with South America and Brazil in particular. 

Still, the group is weighing any move on TAP, for which the Portuguese government has begun evaluating options, “with great caution and no emotion,” Smith said.

“It’s interesting under the right conditions,” Smith said.

--With assistance from Guy Johnson.

(Bloomberg) -- British Airways, Boots and the BBC told thousands of staff that personal information may have been compromised by a cyberattack on their payroll provider, Zellis.

At British Airways, the hack led to the disclosure of employees’ personal information, including names, surnames, dates of birth as well as potentially banking details, according to a spokesperson for the carrier, which employs around 35,000 people.

Pharmacy chain Boots, with more than 50,000 workers, said employees’ personal details were affected. The server was disabled and staff have been made aware, said a spokesperson for Boots, which is owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. 

The BBC confirmed it had been affected by the attack on Zellis. A spokesperson said it was urgently trying to establish the extent of the data breach.

It’s the latest cyberattack to affect the BBC after outsourcing company Capita Plc, which helps to enforce the licence fee that funds the UK public broadcaster, was targeted in March.

Read More: Capita Fears Some Customer Data Was Stolen in Cyberattack

A spokesperson from the National Cyber Security Centre said it was working to fully understand the impact in the UK from the attack on Zellis.

The most recent incident occurred through the file transfer tool of one of Zellis’s third-party suppliers, called MOVEit.

“Our data protection team is working closely with IAG’s Group Security Operations Centre to ensure the containment of the issue and to mitigate any misuse of information,” British Airways said.

The data theft adds to a string of technology glitches afflicting British Airways. Last month, a computer outage forced IAG SA’s flagship carrier to cancel hundreds of flights. Group Chief Executive Officer Luis Gallego said earlier Monday that IAG’s tech issues are fixable “but it’s going to take time.” 

Read More: British Airways IT Outage Leads to More Canceled Flights

IAG is investing huge amounts in its tech infrastructure, Gallego said at the annual International Air Transport Association general meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

--With assistance from Siddharth Philip and Ryan Gallagher.

(Updates with detail on the BBC throughout.)

(Bloomberg) -- United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said flying over Russia constitutes a risk that many carriers including his own won’t take, while airlines from China or India enjoy a competitive advantage as they continue to traverse the airspace.

“I think it creates a safety and security risk,” Kirby said in Istanbul, highlighting concerns for the safety of US citizens on such flights, or the possibility of being forced to land in Russia for a variety of reasons.

Read more: Airspace Dispute Has US Carriers Sitting Out China’s Reopening

US airlines and their lobby group, Airlines for America, are pushing the Biden Administration to level the playing field against Chinese rivals who can overfly Russia. As a result, flight frequencies between the world’s two biggest economies — China and the US — are stalled at below 10% of pre-Covid level.

Kirby said United has curtailed flights where Russian airspace is an obstacle that’s too big to divert around. The airline has resumed just a handful of Chinese services. It can’t fly many Asian routes given the distances needed to avoid Russian airspace, Kirby said.

“It’s a big challenge for us,” said Kirby. “Today, we are flying one flight from Newark to Delhi. The other four routes we can’t make it. They simply can’t fly far enough.”

IATA Director General Willie Walsh, speaking at the annual general meeting of the aviation lobby group, said closing an air space is a “political decision” and that he would like to see Russia open up again to everyone and for the Russia-Ukraine conflict to end. 

“We want to see the aviation system return to normal,” Walsh said. “We recognise that our industry often suffers at the hand of political decisions.”

(Corrects fourth paragraph to show United does fly a handful of services to China)

The House of Representatives has faulted the Nigeria Air purported launch of May 26, 2023 stating that Hadi Sirika, the former Minister, and other proponents sought to hoodwink the country.

Nnolim Nnaji, Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, declared the launch of Nigeria Air a fraud.

The Ministry of Aviation claimed Nigeria Air was only unveiled and not launched, which the committee dismissed as an attempt to divert the lawmakers’ attention.

Members of the committee were shocked when Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) disclosed that the aircraft bearing Nigerian colours was on a chartered flight to Nigeria.

BY  Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha and Chigozirim Enyinnia

Passengers travelling by road from Lagos to various destinations, including Abuja, Owerri, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Kano, among others, are now opting for flight as road fares rise following the fuel subsidy removal.

During his inauguration speech on May 29, President Bola Tinubu had said ‘fuel subsidy is gone.’

The president’s pronouncement led to a resurfacing of long queues at filling stations and a hike in the pump price of petrol across the country.

The fuel price hike has forced several transport companies to increase fares by 50 to 100 percent, making passengers opt to fly on low-cost carriers and book tickets ahead to reduce costs.

BusinessDay visited top road transport companies such as The Young, ABC Bus Transport, Chisco and Liberal Motors.

Checks by BusinessDay show that since the subsidy removal, transport fares from Lagos to other destinations which cost between N10,000 and N15,000 now cost between N18,000 and N30,000 depending on the transport company and the kind of vehicle used to convey passengers.

For instance, while transport fares using Hiace buses cost about N18,000 to N23,000, Sienna and Hummer buses cost between N23,000 and N30,0000.

The increase in fares has seen low-cost carriers like Green Africa and Dana Air, which cost between N35,000 and N50,000 increase ticket sales, while some routes from Monday till two weeks’ time are fully booked.

“Our tickets cost between N40,000 and N50,000 as long as passengers book ahead. In the last one week, ticket sales have been so good for us, even though we cannot categorically link this increase in sales to subsidy removal,” Kingsley Ezenwa, head, corporate communications, Dana Airlines Ltd, told BusinessDay.

Ezenwa said Dana Air’s ticket prices have been affordable and an average Nigerian will always go for airlines that are affordable.

“Air fares on Dana and Green Africa have been quite competitive to that of road transport costs when you book ahead. I didn’t know this secret until the fuel subsidy removal. I found out that when you book ahead, you can get air fares as low as N35,000 to N45,000. This, for me, is the best option at the moment,” Nkechi Udoka, an air passenger told BusinessDay.

Udoka said while airfares are still more expensive than transport fares, the comfort that comes with flying outweighs the extra N10,000 she would have saved travelling by road.

Chuka Ugochukwu, another air transporter, told BusinessDay that with the high level of insecurity on the roads, it is only reasonable to add a little money to buy a flight ticket.

“Two years ago, my uncle was kidnapped in the Benin-Ore road and we paid so much for ransom. If I can get a fair deal to fly for N40,000 or N45,000 from Lagos to Owerri, it is safer and better than paying N28,000 and spending all day on the road and safety is not even guaranteed,” Ugochukwu said.

Obiukwu Mbanuzuo, former chief commercial officer, Green Africa said that airline fares will be competitive against road transportation and could positively impact demand for airlines such as Green Africa.

BuisnessDay’s investigations show that the price of aviation fuel has also dropped since the fuel subsidy removal.

From over N800, aviation fuel prices crashed to N650 in Lagos and N680 in Abuja from June 1, while slightly higher in Kano and Maiduguri and Port Harcourt.

Jet A1 was sold at N620 in Lagos; N660 in Abuja and N680 in Kano.

The aviation fuel crisis which began in late February 2022 and deteriorated further through the months of March to May, threatened the ability of airlines to continue operations with the price of JetA1 rising from N200 in December 2021 to over N400 per litre in February and to N800 in May 2022 and N1,000 in December 2022.

The situation had forced airlines to raise base fares from an average of N28,000 to N50,000 and to as much as N100,000.

With the drop in aviation fuel price, airlines are expected to reduce fares soon, as Dana and Green Africa have reviewed prices downward.

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Aviation Administration said inbound flights to LaGuardia Airport in New York City have been grounded due to low visibility as smoke from fires across eastern Canada blankets the city. 

Departures to LaGuardia were grounded from 12:50 p.m. New York time and will stay grounded until at least 2 p.m., but the FAA said in a status update the probability of an extension was low — “less than 30%.”

Inbound flights to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were also delayed for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon.

Health officials urged New York City residents to stay indoors on Wednesday as unhealthy air quality levels posed a risk to the sick, elderly and young children. 

The Federal Government, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration, has evacuated another batch of 112 stranded Nigerians from Libya’s capital, Tripoli.

Amb. Kabiru Musa, Charge d’Affaires En Titre of the Nigerian Mission to Libya, made this known in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

Musa said that the continuous voluntary evacuation exercise was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure that none of its citizens were left stranded abroad.

He said that the evacuees were expected to arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday evening.

“The Federal Government, through its Mission in Libya, facilitated the evacuation of another batch of 112 stranded Nigerians from the capital city of Tripoli.

“The evacuees include 55 men, 47 women, six children, and four infants.

“They departed Mitiga International Airport, Tripoli aboard chartered flight No. UZ01890 at 13.30 local time and are expected to arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos same day,” he said.

According to him, this is the sixth evacuation exercise the Federal Government is conducting this year, with almost 5,000 Nigerians successfully evacuated from Libya.

“This is a voluntary exercise, and as long as our citizens are willing to return home, the government will continue to fulfil its responsibility to return them home in a safe manner.

“We appreciate the IOM and the Libyan authorities for their support,” Musa said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that as a transit country to Europe, thousands of Nigerians are reported to be stranded in Libya from human trafficking, and suffer terrible ordeals at the hands of their traffickers in the North American country.

NAN