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Quick Takes FAAN to Employ Security Applicants
Successful aviation security candidates who participated in the recruitment exercise conducted by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) last year would soon be invited for interview and other pre-employment procedure. This was disclosed by the Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma while playing host to some of the candidates in his office recently. He expressed appreciation for the patience and understanding showed by the applicants, adding that the seeming delay in inviting them for interview was necessitated by the need to observe due diligence in the employment procedure. Dunoma also added that successful candidates would be formally notified and invited in batches, for training and documentation, in line with international best practices for the employment of aviation security officers.
ADVAN Hosts 2016 Marketers’ Conference
CAPACITY BUILDING
L-R: Secretary, Joint Tax Board , Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar; Managing Director, Intermarc Consulting, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemo; President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Dr, Olateju Somorin and Executive Director, System Spec, Mr. Deremi Atanda, during the E-Revenue Sustainability Conference 2016 in Abuja …recently
Afreximbank Offers $20bn Loan to African Airlines Chinedu Eze African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has earmarked over $20 billion to be given to airlines from member African countries as syndicated loans to acquire new aircraft. The offer is aimed at reviving and sustaining airline operation in the continent and only airlines that intend to acquire new aircraft will benefit from the loan. Senior Manager, Syndications and Specialised Finance, Afreximbank, Samuel Mugoya, who disclosed this at the 25th Air Finance African Conference and Exhibition in Johannesburg, South Africa, said one of the major challenges faced by African airlines is their inability to source long-term loans at
AVIATION single digit interest rates. THISDAY learnt that some Nigerian airlines that plan to acquire more aircraft and expand their operation have indicated interest in the loan. Mugoya, who spoke at a panel during the conference said another challenge many African airlines face that over 60 per cent of their expenses are done with hard currency, whereas they generate their revenue in local currency. He said part of the guarantee for the loan is the aircraft, which is a huge asset adding before the bank offers to give loan to any airline, it must be convinced about its business plan, which must be in tandem
with the reality of its operational environment. He noted that there is a lot of debt financing for African airlines but no equity and faulted the business plan of many of the airlines, saying most of the business plans are not satisfactory. “A lot of routes are not developed on business principle. A start up airline should begin with domestic operation, then regional operation and the business plan should reflect business reality. You find many airlines in Francophone countries rushing to operate to Paris, while Anglophone countries rush to go to London without checking the business sense in that route,” Mugoya said.
Afreximbank is contemplating establishing a leasing company to help smaller airlines, which may not be able to access its loans and also help in the growth of airline industry in the continent. “We may establish a leasing company so that we could lease aircraft to smaller airlines or we work with lessors or establish a platform to cover the broad spectrum of the continent. We need to provide funding to our member states,” Mugoya added. In Nigeria, airlines face difficulty obtaining loans from local banks because of high interest rate and short term repayment arrangement. Industry experts said the arrangement was wrong because with very low profit
Mugoya also disclosed that
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IATA: Carbon-offset Deal Would Cost Airlines $6.2bn in 2025 A global market-based measure to curb aviation emissions would cost the airline industry up to $6.2 billion in the year 2025, but carriers could face higher charges if governments fail to reach a deal by October, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. Government representatives gathered Wednesday at the United Nations’s civil aviation agency to negotiate a draft deal on carbon-neutral growth from 2020, which is to be voted on at a fall assembly. “That of course is the result the industry is counting on,” Reuters quoted IATA Chief Executive Tony Tyler to have
AVIATION told participants at a global sustainable aviation forum in Montreal on Tuesday, in reference to a draft deal in the fall. By 2035, the deal would cost airlines up to an estimated $24 billion, as air traffic grows, according to figures from the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). According to Reuters, the cost projections are for sample years after the deal would become active in 2021. Airlines are nevertheless urging ICAO’s 191-member states
to reach a global agreement in the fall because the cost of a patchwork of national and regional agreements could be even higher. “A market-based cost will be much more efficient, and much fairer than the alternative which is a patchwork of inefficient and ineffective charges and taxes which are cooked up primarily just to raise cash rather than to tackle climate change,” Tyler said. “We expect that the cost will be not insignificant, but it will be manageable.” According to ICAO data cited in an IATA position paper, the estimated cost of offsetting a flight carrying 267 passengers
from Moscow to New York on a B777 would cost up to $804 in offsets. Aviation was not included in the global climate deal reached at a United Nations (UN) conference in Paris in December, and ICAO is tasked with nailing down a strategy to limit emissions after six years of talks. The plan would allow airlines to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits from designated environmental projects around the globe, but countries remain divided on how offset obligations are Continued on page 20
The Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) will hold its first Marketers Conference today at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja with the theme ‘Connecting Brand Builders’. According to the president of the association, Mr. David Okeme, the event will feature keynote addresses as well as panelists’ discussions on priority information and insights. Giving the breakdown of the event at a press briefing recently, Okeme rolled out topics to include amongst others; ‘Consumer Confidence Trends’, ‘Consumer Engagement’ as well as Highlights from the ‘World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Marketers Conference’ which took place in Malaysia recently. Speakers at the event are made up of the most astute professionals from the various units within the marketing communications value chain including Mr. Lampe Omoyele (MD The Nielsen Company), Mrs. Juliet Ehimuan Chiazor (Country Manager Google Nigeria), Mrs. Joan Ihekwaba (GM Marketing UAC Foods Nigeria) and Mr. Kola Oyeyemi (GM Business Development Sales and Distribution Division MTN Nigeria). Others are Mr. Kachi Onubogu (Commercial Director Promasidor Ltd), Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe (MD/CEO at Mediacom Nigeria), Mr. Richard Iwenoge (GM Consumer Marketing MTN Nigeria), Mr. Tony Agenmonmen (Vice President NIMN) and Mr. Obinna Anyalebechi (Consumer Marketing Guinness Nigeria Plc).
Heathrow Plans New Runway
London’s Heathrow Airport, seeking government permission to build an additional runway, said it would comply with an extended ban on night flights and meet European air quality rules if the project gets the go-ahead, according to Reuters. Heathrow is operating at full capacity and has been campaigning for 25 years for approval to build a third runway, but political wrangling, objections from local residents in west London and environmentalists have prevented expansion. A government-appointed Airports Commission last year named Heathrow as the preferred site for an additional runway in London, setting out a number of conditions to help win over opponents.Heathrow faces competition from London Gatwick, which also wants to build a new runway. Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin said in February that a decision on airport expansion could come by the end of July.The issue is a divisive one for Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative government, already split over next month’s referendum on the United Kingdom’s (UK)’s membership of the European Union(EU). Heathrow said on Wednesday that it would comply with all 11 conditions set out by the Airports Commission, including a key requirement on air quality which stated that new flights would only be permitted if air quality did not breach EU limits.
“Since the beginning of this century, the diversification of Africa’s partnerships and its integration within the world economy has certainly led to acceleration in the region’s economic attractiveness” CEO, African Aviation Services Limited
Nick Fadugba