Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor gets Private jet as Birthday Gift

Word of life bible church, Ajamimogha, Warri, Delta State presented Pastor Ayo oritsejafor, papa ayo as he is popularly called, with a sweet private jet by members of his congregation as a birthday gift. menh "seek ye 1st the kingdom of God and every other thing shall be added unto you" includes private jet.
Present at the ceremony was President Goodluck Jonathan, Delta state Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the speaker Delta state house of assembly and other digniteries. an international speaker and motivator Dr. Mike Murdock gave a sermon on Seven Laws of Success. So now Papa Ayo now travels in style no more long queues and delayed flights. His now in the league of high flying clergies.

Cockpit View: Final Approach

Nice view and Beautiful Right. But its not for passengers nahhh! Its a view you get only if you at the front office. Its one of the very many pleasures of being a pilot. A birds eye view of beautiful cities, or should i say a pilots eye view. lol!

Aviation Minister Denys Withholding Landing Rights from Airlines

There has being rumors stating that the aviation minister made a call not to allow certain airlines landing rights into the north specifically Kano State. She was even summoned by the Senate to defend herself of such allegations. She explained on her Facebook page that denying landing rights to Ethiad and Emirates would go against UAE BASA contract.

PUTTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT ABOUT THE ALLEGED MARGINALISATION OF THE NORTH

Recently, the media has been inundated with misinformation and deliberate falsehood alleging marginalisation against the Northern part of the country by the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah with regard to the citing of Cargo Terminals as well as landing rights by some foreign airlines into the Malam Aminiu Kano International Airport, (MAKIA), Kano. Nothing can be further from the truth.

On the alleged refusal to grant landing rights to Emirates and Etihad Airlines, we make haste to state that the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Arad Emirates (UAE) clearly grants and entitles these airlines to operate flights into Lagos, Abuja and Kano International Airports. By the agreement, the airlines are equally entitled to operate cargo services to the said destinations. It is therefore inconceivable that anyone, including the Aviation Minister would unilaterally deny them rights and privileges already conferred by the BASA.

It is instructive to point out that as at today, both Emirates and Etihad have since commenced operations into Lagos. However, the point has to be made that neither Emirates nor Etihad has indicated its intention yet to take up the opportunities provided by BASA to commence operations into MAKIA, Kano.

Ethiopian Airways, like Emirates and Etihad also has landing rights to operate into Lagos, Abuja and MAKIA, Kano. The airline has since commenced passenger operations into Lagos and Abuja International Airports. It is yet to commence its cargo operations into Kano as provided in the BASA.

With regard to the Turkish Airways, the Ministry of Aviation on the 1st of August, 2012 granted approval to the airline to also operate into MAKIA, Kano. The approval also enjoined the airline to partner with the local Carrier, IRS on the Kano route. It is therefore totally misleading to suggest that the airline was denied entry into MAKIA, Kano.

Another foreign airline allegedly denied entry into Kano is Skyline Limited. To be sure, the Ministry of Aviation does not have any record of any foreign Carrier by the name Skyline. This allegation, like the rest, is spurious, unfounded, false and ultimately misleading.

The charge that a Cargo Terminal meant for the North East geo-political zone was diverted to Asaba, the Delta state capital is also incorrect, misleading and false. For the records, all originally proposed designated cargo terminals are as follows: Cargo terminal at Port Harcourt Airport, Cargo terminal at Kano airport, Cargo terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Cargo terminal at Lagos airport, Cargo terminal at Asaba, Owerri and Calabar airports.

Others are Cargo terminal, Yola, Cargo terminal, Jos airport, Cargo terminal, Makurdi airport, Cargo terminal, Jalingo airport, Cargo terminals at Maiduguri, Ilorin and Akure airports. From the foregoing, it is clear that whoever is peddling the rumour about attempts to deny the Norh East of the infrastructure of a Cargo terminal in the zone is clearly misinformed.

The Ministry hereby enjoins the general public, especially stakeholders in the aviation sector to take deliberate care to cross-check facts on any/all issue(s) before going public in the media as this is capable of not only misleading the general public, but also unnecessarily heightening tensions between and amongst different sections of the polity.



Joe Obi, SA (Media) to the Hon. Minister of Aviation.

Arik Air Aborts Take-off on Runway

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) yesterday linked the stoppage of Arik Airline flight from Abuja to Lagos to a technical fault.
They, therefore, asked Nigerians not to entertain any fear over the security of flight operations in the country.
Mr. Sam Adurogboye of the NCAA, said the advice became necessary following the Arik Air flight incident from Abuja to Lagos.
He said the flight was aborted on the runway due to a technical fault, just before take–off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Adurogboye gave assurance that the NCAA was on top of the situation.
“Our engineers are there on ground 24/7 to rectify any fault because safety is paramount to us."
Passengers are always in a hurry, especially in Nigeria. So true. If a plane develops a fault it must be certified alright before passengers can be allowed to continue on their journey.
Everywhere in the world, a plane has to be certified okay before it can be allowed to fly. Therefore, we urge passengers to always be patient when it's necessary.
A passengers on board the Arik plane, who wants to remain anonymous, said the pilot noticed an electrical fault and taxied back to the terminal building.
“The fault was supposedly fixed, but we are still waiting for the NCAA to certify the plane to fly. They said we may have to go to Lagos in another aircraft,’’
Arik Airline head of communication, Mr. Ola Adebanji said the company has its engineers working around the clock and are looking into the problem.

Dantata Family Puts Up Gulfstream G550 for sale

The very famous Nigerian business mogul Dantata Family, have put up their family private jet with registration N169SD up for sale...
Aircraft Specs and pix visit http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/GULFSTREAM-G550/2008-GULFSTREAM-G550/1262121.htm
But lets take a peak inside... Even me is tripping. Choi money is gweeeed!!!
 

                                                           Gulfstream G550           
 

                                                 State of the art Glass Cockpit System.

                                                                      Cabin Area  

National Carrier: We are on our own!

Strong indications have emerged that the Ministry of Aviation may be grooming new entrants airlines, Hak Air and Medview Airlines to operate as National Carriers, having failed to obtain foreign airlines’ commitment to invest in the project. I'm not surprised, we tried that once and it failed. (Virgin Nigeria)
The initial plan was to engage a foreign airline to invest into the project failed to yield any positive results as all the foreign airlines contacted rebuffed the idea of making financial investment in the country at this time.
The standard practice for setting in most parts of the world is to build up with major local airlines. However, delegation from the ministry had embarked on foreign roadshow with the main objective been to woo foreign airlines to come and set up the local carrier.
The Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah failed to show up at the round-off meeting with the foreign airlines, having received indications of a likely rebuff by the airlines.
The foreign airlines said are would not make financial investment in setting up Nigeria’s national carrier, maintaining that it should be handled by local airlines.
One of the foreign airlines stated its position its position in a confidential statement sayin
 “We will not do financial investments in Nigeria at the time being. A Nigerian airline has to develop from inside and not from outside – by a foreign operator.”
Having failed to get foreign firms to invest and operate the national carrier, LEADERSHIP gathered that the Minister of Aviation is now planning to bring in new entrant airlines in which she would have some shares.
It is alleged that the Minister is trying to bring Med Air and Hak Air on board to operate as National Carrier and is meeting with stiff resistance particularly from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) which insists that Hak Air has no Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and cannot be issued with it unless it fulfils all the necessary requirements.
Spokesman for the NCAA said that getting an AOC is mandatory before an airline could be allowed to fly, adding that it is the AOC that shows that an airline has the capability to undertake commercial flight operations.

Aircraft Maintenance Facility Will Boost Nigerias' Aviation Industry

Arik Air, in partnership with Lufthansa Technik  plans to build a state-of-the-art  maintenance, repair and overhaul facility (MRO), which is expected to  elevate air transport in Nigeria.

Hold on: I thought Akwa-Ibom had built one in Akano-ibom International Airport and with the first phase completed. Smh seriously guys stand as one.

Well one of the major challenges of Nigerian airlines is the maintenance of their aircraft, which besides the cost of fuel takes a large chunk of their revenue.

It is highly costly for domestic carriers to maintain their fleet because of two factors:

- The major checks are done overseas and most of the time they would have to queue for weeks. Carrying out aircraft maintenance overseas adds extra cost to what it would be if the aircraft were maintained in Nigeria.

- The airline loses the services of an aircraft which queues for weeks in a hangar somewhere in Europe, US or Africa and also the accruing revenue it will generate.

Everyday a Boeing B737 aircraft operating in Nigeria generates average of N5 million at full capacity utilisation and sometimes an aircraft waiting for checks can park for weeks before it would be attended to. This is because Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities are usually busy all-year round.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, once lamented that Nigerian airlines paid so much for maintenance and aircraft parts because major maintenance is done overseas and paid for in dollars, while they generate their money in naira.

A C-Check maintenance could cost an airline $1 million (about N159 million) but it is believed that it would be cheaper if Nigeria has its own maintenance facility. It is also believed if there is an MRO in Nigeria; the country’s airlines will be spending less time at the facility before checks.

Again, having such a maintenance facility seemed to be a sine qua none to the development of air transport in any country and unfortunately there is no major MRO facility in West Africa.

Arik and Lufthansa
During the 5th anniversary of Arik Air, the Chairman of the airline, Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, disclosed among other things that Arik would partner with a renowned aircraft maintenance company in the world, Lufthansa Technik to build MRO facility in Nigeria.

According to him, the construction would take off immediately the Federal Government gave a go-ahead for the facility to be built in the country.

Nature of Facility
Arumemi Ikhide said that the facility would be built to meet international standards, including that of the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States.

The facility when completed will be one of Lufthansa’s major MRO located outside Hamburg, Germany, the headquarters of Lufthansa Technik and it is targeted to carry out overall maintenance of new generation aircraft; that is, modern aircraft.

“And the MRO we are setting up with Lufthansa is global. It is not strictly for Arik alone. I just want to make that one very clear. Lufthansa sent us to Malta; the base of Lufthansa is Hamburg, but they have this type of facility they want to build for us here in Malta; they have in Budapest; they have in Asia.

“What we made very clear to Lufthansa is that we want an MRO that will be global. Someone can come from Philippines, some can come from France, but one problem that we have, which I don’t know, except government takes a very strong step; we are looking for NGs- next generation aircraft. We are thinking about the A330s; we are not thinking about B737=200. We won’t maintain all that, but we may maintain B737-400,” said the Chairman of Arik Air.

He also said that the establishment of the facility was largely dependent on the support of government and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), adding that Lufthansa gave conditions that must be met by the Federal Government before the facility would be established.

“Lufthansa set some conditions, which they feel the government must abide by. We have to work with NCAA and they have to keep it to IASA standards and FAA standards. So it is going to benefit the whole country. Arik itself will be a customer of that MRO so there is going to be a difference between Arik airline and the MRO.”

On the timeline for the project, Arumemi Ikhide projected that it could be established from next year if all the conditions given by Lufthansa were met and the European company was also hopeful that the building of the facility could start as quickly as possible. The MRO is a very important thing to our heart.”

Government’s Support
The Director of Airworthiness and Standards, NCAA, Emmanuel Usifo, said the agency would give full support to the project and ensure that there would be no hitches of the side of the regulatory body in actualising the project.

“We will work with them all the way, and that’s what we are going to do and I can tell you that the interest is in it. We are glad that Lufthansa is here; we know Lufthansa’s high standards and that is known worldwide. And we are happy that they are going to partner with Nigeria; partner with Arik. We are really, really happy about it so we will work with you all the way.”

The Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Aviation, Joe Obi, told THISDAY that although the ministry would not comment on the condition, which Lufthansa had given before it would establish the facility in partnership with Arik, but that the Federal Government was fully in support of the establishment of such facility by the private sector.

“I don’t think that government will stand in the way, if Arik wants to build such a facility. Government will support and encourage it. Until we know what the conditions given by Lufthansa is, we cannot comment on that, but government will fully support the project,” Obi said.

NCAA Director-General, Demuren once noted that that it would be a long-term programme for the establishment of MRO and training of engineers that would  man it but the earlier Nigeria started the better. He also spoke about government’s support for such projects and recalled how American government supports establishment of MRO facilities.

“In America it is different. If you want to build maintenance facility you don’t pay for the land. In fact the US government will put money into it. This is because it is going to provide jobs. It is going to improve safety and another important thing, you cannot take it out of the country. The US government built a lot of maintenance facilities so that they can promote safety and provide job and create wealth.”

Training
The Chief Commercial Officer of Lufthansa, Alfred Nessel, told THISDAY that his company was poised to establish the facility in Nigeria, adding that the country needed MRO facility to enhance and develop the aviation sector.

He also said that Lufthansa would embark on training Nigerians who would man the facility, noting that it would take about three years for the indigenes to acquire necessary certification to be fully involved in the maintenance and overhaul services.

The training of Nigerians is crucial for the technical advancement of the country in aircraft maintenance and Lufthansa has assured that it would train young Nigerians. Recently, the Managing Director of Bristow Helicopter, Mr. Akin Oni, argued that maintaining aircraft in a Nigerian MRO facility would be as costly as maintaining it overseas if it would be expatriates that would be deployed to the Nigerian facility.

Profitability
The international aviation personality and expert, Nick Fadugba, said it was high time an MRO facility was built in the country and pointed out the gains.
“First, let me say that West Africa is the only region in the continent without a world-class maintenance facility. North Africa has it; East Africa has it; Southern Africa has it, but West Africa and in particular Nigeria, we lack a vibrant MRO facility”.

Fadugba said that establishing a modern MRO facility is cost intensive and spoke on how to make such facility profitable.

“What happens is that before you build MRO facility, you already get airlines committed to bringing their aircraft. So companies that build MRO facilities normally enter into commercial agreement with airlines before they start building the facility. That is, if I am going to invest X amount of dollars into building this facility, I need to be guaranteed by these airlines that the fleet they have will have to come through my MRO facility.

You cannot just build MRO facility and then wait for customers to show up. It doesn’t work like that in this day and age. So for a successful MRO facility, it is a partnership between the numerous service providers and, not only one airline but several airlines.”
The MRO facility when completed would elevate the image of Nigeria and also improve its reckoning in the aviation world; it would also improve the safety of aircraft that operate in the country