Lufthansa, Austrian airlines joined KLM in suspending flights to Ukraine 

By Favour Nnabugwu
On Saturday, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines both confirmed they would suspend flights into Ukraine owing to the security situation there.
The suspensions come as pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine mobilize with local residents being urged to flee.
Lufthansa & Austrian suspend Ukraine flights until end of the month
In updated travel advice published on its website, Lufthansa said it is “suspending flights to and from Kyiv. This affects all departures from Monday, February 21 until 28 February 28.” Lufthansa says it is constantly monitoring the situation and will decide on further flights at a later date.
Austrian Airlines, which is owned by the Lufthansa Group, is also canceling all flights to and from Kyiv and Odessa until the end of February.
The suspensions takes effect from Monday, with both airlines will operate some flights into Ukraine until then. Lufthansa says it will continue to fly to Lviv in western Ukraine.
Dutch carrier KLM suspended flight to Kyiv earlier this month. A few days later, Norwegian decided its planes would not overly the country. Both airlines cited the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine.
We made this decision based on a comprehensive safety assessment,” said Norwegian’s Esben Tuman. “Safety always comes first.”
Airlines careful flying over Ukraine
While airlines are used to dodging conflict zones, this one is close to home for most European carriers and the shooting down of MH017 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile remains fresh in the memory.
“KLM always puts the safety of passengers and employees first in the conduct of its operation. Choosing safe and optimal routes is a standard part of our daily practice,” the Amsterdam-based airline said in a statement. MH017 originated in Amsterdam and Dutch citizens made up the majority of the people killed in the incident. Since then, KLM and several other airlines have avoided overflying eastern Ukraine.
There are nearly two dozen operating airports in Ukraine. The largest is Kyiv Boryspil International Airport (KBP). According to airline database ch-aviation.com, 35 airlines use the airport. Those airlines fly to 133 destinations in 54 countries. Around a dozen airlines are based at the airport, including Ukraine International Airlines, Windrose Airlines, SkyUp Airlines, Supernova Airlines, and Azur Air Ukraine.
It can be recalled that earlier this month, insurers began getting skittish over the escalating tensions and warned Ukraine-based airlines their coverage did not include war risk. Last weekend, Ukraine’s SkyUp was forced to divert a flight from Portugal after that plane’s owner forbid it to enter Ukrainian airspace.
The next day, Ukraine International Airlines said it was sending five planes to Spain after the insurer of those planes suspended coverage while they remained in Ukrainian airspace.
Meanwhile, as the US warns a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent and has evacuated most staff members from its Kyiv embassy, other airlines still flying into Ukraine are closely watching events. Some airlines are scheduling additional flights into Kyiv to get people out.
On Friday, Air India confirmed it would operate three flights to Ukraine next week to evacuate its citizens. The airline said there was a “massive demand” for the flights.
Domestic airlines increase fares by 100% effective March 1

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

After a meeting in Lagos, domestic airline operators have resolved to increase airfares by 100 percent across board with effect from next week, March 1.T

The resolution adopted by all the domestic operators sees the least economy ticket now selling for 50,000 naira, instead of the previous 22,000 naira for an hour flight.

There are indications that some of the airlines have already fixed some of the fares that will come into effect on March 1.

Investigation revealed that an economy class domestic ticket on Max Air outbound Jos to Abuja from March 1, 2020 sells at ₦50,000, while Green Africa Airlines’ Lagos to PortHarcourt goes for ₦35,000 as opposed to its current ₦16,500 fare.

Green Africa will sell its Owerri to Abuja flight tickets at ₦35,000, while Air Peace Lagos to Abuja will sell at ₦50,000. Equally, Air Peace will sell Lagos to Benin return ₦105,000.

Azman Air flight from Abuja to Kano from the same March 1 sells at ₦50,000, while Overland Airways Akure to Abuja will go for the same ₦50,000. Other airlines , namely, Dana, Ibom Air, Aero Contractors will also raise their ticket prices by 100 percent
Recall the airlines, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, had issued a statement complaining about the current high cost of aviation fuel.

They revealed that ” aviation fuel cost above N410 in Lagos, N422 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and N429 in Kano per litre, while the dollar, which sells for between N580 to N600 is in short supply.”

The airlines also expressed anger at the ” Unavailability of Forex for spare parts and maintenance . Airlines carry out most of their activities in dollars which today sells for between N580 to N600 and is in short supply. Nigeria’s domestic airlines are in a ‘life and death’ struggle to secure the Forex they need to acquire their spare parts to maintain their aircraft.”

” This is a major influence on how quickly a grounded aircraft can be fixed and restored to its flight schedule, which in turn has a huge impact on the schedule reliability of the domestic airlines,” AON said.

As at the time of filing this report, the civil aviation regulatory authority, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has not issued any statement on the new fares . A source within the authority however said airfares have since be ” deregulated by NCAA, leaving market forces to determine price.”

” NCAA only intervene when an airline fixes ridiculously low airfares. That can compromise safety standard as operations of any airline is capital intensive,” he said.