United Returns to Nigeria After Five Years of Absence

Competition on the lucrative United States-Nigeria route is set to have begun as United Airlines November 30 resumed flight services to Lagos. The airline will battle Delta Airlines for a huge market share on the route and may look to expand services to other cities in the future under the ‘Open Skies’ policy between Nigeria and the US. United returns to Nigeria after five years of absence.

The carrier operated its new nonstop service between its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport with the arrival of the first flight into Lagos.

With three weekly flights, United is the first and only airline serving Washington D.C. nonstop from Lagos. The flight is operated with state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring United’s award-winning United Polaris business class cabin and United Premium Plus premium economy seats.

The new service marks United’s return to Nigeria, which the airline previously served up until 2016. The return was  confirmed in September. A  water cannon salute marked the arrival of United flight UA612 with Oluwatomi Bola-Sadipe, United’s Country Sales Manager Nigeria, Victoria Shin-Aba, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Regional General Manager and Claire Pierangelo, U.S. Consul General welcoming the first arriving United customers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

“This new flight from Lagos reinforces our ongoing commitment to growing our network in Africa and providing more convenient service to the destinations our customers want to fly to most,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of International Network Planning and Alliances.

“This highly anticipated service will provide a key gateway between Lagos and Washington D.C., as well as easy one-stop connections to almost eighty destinations across the Americas, including Houston and Chicago. This exciting initiative further expands our economic relationship, promotes people-to-people ties, and creates new opportunities for United, travel companies, and customers alike,” said Mary Beth Leonard, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria.

Expansion into Africa

This new flight builds on United’s expansion into Africa and solidifies the airline’s leadership position from Africa to the U.S. Earlier this year, United launched a new service between Johannesburg and New York/Newark and between Accra and Washington D.C.

This December and January, United will increase its Accra service from three weekly flights to daily. United will also bring back its popular nonstop service between Cape Town and New York/Newark on 1 December. Read more

Dollar Shortage: Foreign Airlines Stop Ticket Sale to Nigeria-bound Travellers

As dollar shortage in the Nigerian economy continues to hit the air travel industry harder, foreign airlines flying into the country have stopped local travel agencies and firms from selling tickets to intending inbound Nigeria passengers

The carriers also barred Nigerian travel agencies from selling tickets to intending passengers whose travel itineraries neither originate nor terminate in Nigeria.

This is known in air travel parlance as SOTO ticket, meaning Sold Out, Ticketed Out.

The move is currently affecting many Nigerian students abroad who are seeking to buy tickets from Nigerian travel agents to come home for the Yuletide.

Majority of them are now being forced to consider buying their tickets from travel agencies based overseas.

The latest move by the international carriers follows their inability to repatriate their ticket sale proceeds running into several billions of naira in the last one year.

As of October, the International Air Transport Association (the global trade body for international airlines) said foreign carriers operating in Nigeria had been unable to repatriate about $207m in ticket sale proceeds to their various head offices abroad.

The Central Bank of Nigeria is rationing the sale of dollar to international airlines and other sectors of the economy as the country battles to meet dollar demands.

However, economic and financial experts have queried the rationale for the CBN’s rationing of the greenback when the nation’s external reserves are still above $40bn.

Local travel agencies told our correspondent that most of the foreign airlines stopped sale of SOTO tickets due to the exchange rate problems in Nigeria, which they said had made it difficult for them to repatriate their revenues.

“Most airlines don’t want to sell SOTO tickets again because of the exchange rate problem in Nigeria, which is affecting them; they couldn’t move their revenue out of Nigeria,” an official of Peacock Travels and Tours, a major local travel agency, said on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the matter.

The official of another agency said aside from the difficulty in repatriating revenue, SOTO tickets might not pay the foreign carriers because of the international exchange rate among countries. Read more

Latest Travel Bans Meet Incomprehension in Africa

As a growing number of countries impose flight bans on Southern African nations due to concerns over the new Omicron variant, World Health Organisation (WHO) urges countries to follow science and the International Health Organisation Health Regulations (2015). Latest travel bans meet incomprehension in Africa.

South Africa PresidentCyril Ramaphosa has blasted “unjustified” travel bans imposed by many countries following the emergence of the Omicron variant. It was first detected in Botswana on November 11 and reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa on November 24 after it began spreading rapidly in Gauteng province, a predominantly urban area containing the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic,” Ramaphosa said in a live TV speech on November 28. He added that “the prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant.”

IATA Supports WHO’s Position

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it stands with the position of WHO on the virus, just as the clearinghouse for over 290 international airlines and African nations in calling for borders to remain open. IATA in a Tweet stated that governments need to follow global public health experts, as millions of lives and livelihoods depend on it.

Travel restrictions may play a role in reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods. This week, nations will be joining a special session of the World Health Assembly organized by WHO to discuss how to collectively prepare and respond better to pandemics, building on their commitments to the International Health Regulations.

How South Africa alerted the world

A statement from the regional office of WHO made available to AirInsight noted that South Africa followed International Health Regulations and as soon as its national laboratory identified the Omicron variant informed WHO of this on November 24.

“The speed and transparency of the South African and Botswana governments in informing the world of the new variant are to be commended. WHO stands with African countries which had the courage to boldly share life-saving public health information, helping protect the world against the spread of COVID-19”, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

“On the eve of a special session on pandemic preparedness, I urge all countries to respect their legal obligations and implement scientifically based public health actions. It is critical that countries which are open with their data are supported as this is the only way to ensure we receive important data in a timely manner”.

“We only get better if we work together”

Moeti further stated that while investigations continue into the Omicron variant, WHO recommends countries to take a risk-based and scientific approach and put in place measures that can limit its possible spread, stressing that flight bans have been imposed on Southern African countries, but so far, only two have detected the new variant. Meanwhile, countries in the other regions have reported cases of Omicron.

“With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa global solidarity. COVID-19 constantly exploits our divisions. We will only get the better of the virus if we work together for solutions,” said Dr, Moeti.

The WHO Regional Director further disclosed that WHO is scaling up support to genomic sequencing in Africa, adding that sequencing laboratories should have access to adequate human resources and testing reagents to work at full capacity.

WHO said it is ready to support the additional human resources needs as well as mobilize funds and technical expertise to reinforce COVID-19 response activities including surveillance, treatment, and infection prevention and community engagement in Southern African countries. Read more

Sources: The Punch Newspaper; AirInsight