Air Nigeria Closes In Latest Aviation Setback

International carrier Air Nigeria said it would terminate operations on Monday due to "staff disloyalty and environmental challenges", the latest setback for the country's aviation industry after a rival's plane crash in June killed 163 people.
Privately-owned Air Nigeria was part of Richard Branson's Virgin group until he pulled out in 2010, selling his minority stake.
It operated flights across West Africa and to London.
It is now shutting down operations and sacking over 500 staff in a move that has prompted union protests over alleged unfair dismissal and unpaid salaries.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority suspended Air Nigeria in June due to financial concerns, although some flights were allowed to continue.
Several Nigerian airlines have folded in recent years due to lack of finance or poor safety.
"Corporations are like individuals, who naturally will get sick, and the usual thing to do is to admit them to hospitals, either for corporate surgery or for treatment, as the case may be," a statement from the company's Chairman Jimoh Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said Air Nigeria would close operations for at least a year but he hoped to resurrect the airline in the future.
Dana Air flight 992, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, crashed into an apartment block in a populated Lagos suburb in June, killing 153 people onboard and 10 others on the ground.
Air crashes are relatively common in Africa's most populous nation, although Air Nigeria was never involved.
The aviation ministry cleared Dana to fly again last week even though the accident bureau has not concluded its investigation into the crash.
(Reuters)

AirAsia To Be First A320 Operator With Sharklets

Low-cost carrier AirAsia will be the first airline to sport fuel-saving sharklet wing tips on an A320 plane from December, Airbus said at the Berlin air show on Tuesday.
The bent-back wing tips offer fuel savings of about 4 percent. Airbus completed the first new-build A320 equipped with sharklets in Toulouse in April and previously said it expected the first member of the family to enter service from the fourth quarter of 2012.
AirAsia is Asia's largest budget carrier and last year placed a record-breaking USD$18 billion order for 200 of Airbus's fuel-saving A320neo jets.
The airline is close to a further deal to buy up to 100 A320 jets, although an order may not be ready to be announced in Berlin, sources familiar with the matter said last week.
(Reuters)

Dubai Passenger, Freight Traffic Climbs

 Passenger traffic at Dubai Airport climbed 6.0 percent in July from a year earlier, with monthly traffic surpassing 5 million passengers for the first time, the airport said on Wednesday.
Dubai, one of the world's busiest, handled 5.01 million passengers in July, up from 4.72 million in July 2011.
Annual growth slowed from June's 16.0 percent, however, because of the impact on traffic of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in July this year and affected Gulf and Middle East routes.
Freight passing through Dubai International climbed 6.2 percent from a year earlier in July to 204,510 tonnes.
"July's traffic volumes mean that an average of 112 passengers passed through our airport every minute of every day," Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said in a statement.
"By 2018, when we expect to complete the expansion of Dubai International, that will soar to just under 170 passengers per minute."
Dubai is investing USD$7.8 billion on the expansion of the airport. Concourse 3, the world's first purpose-built A380 facility, is expected to open once it completes operational readiness tests likely to occur in the first quarter of 2013.
(Reuters)

EgyptAir Resumes Flights After Cabin Crew Deal

EgyptAir said it would resume international flights from Cairo that had been suspended for most of the day on Friday after reaching a deal with cabin crew who had gone on strike over pay and conditions.
An Egyptair official said flights would resume at 6 pm (1600 GMT). It had suspended them from 4 am (0200 GMT).
A second airline official said an adviser to President Mohamed Mursi had helped convince cabin crew to end the strike at the national carrier after committing to meeting demands.
A spokesman for the cabin crew, Tamer al-Sioufi, said the strike was called off after a deal was reached but said the crew would walk out again on Sunday if it was not fully implemented.
The airlines said it had operated six international flight departures during the hours of the strike using crews of private airlines. Domestic flights were not affected by the strike.
Witnesses reported crowds of frustrated passengers. The airline urged passengers to check before turning up at the airport to confirm when their flights would depart.
(Reuters)

Heathrow Expansion Decision Set For After 2015

Planes queuing for takeoff at Heathrow airport. Photograph: David Pearson/Alamy

A decision on whether Britain will expand airport capacity around London will be taken by the next government, the country's new transport secretary said on Friday, meaning a decision is unlikely before 2015.
A commission chaired by former Financial Services Authority head Howard Davies to examine ways to expand airport capacity in southeast England will report in the summer of 2015 after releasing an interim report next year, Patrick McLoughlin wrote in his first ministerial statement as transport secretary.
Several options are being considered to increase the southeast of England's strained airport capacity: a third runway at London's Heathrow airport; a second at Stansted northeast of London, or a new airport in the estuary of the river Thames.
"This is a very difficult debate, but the reality is that since the 1960s Britain has failed to keep pace with our international competitors in addressing long term aviation capacity and connectivity needs," wrote McLoughlin.
"A decision on whether to support any of the recommendations contained in the final report will be taken by the next government."
Britain's Conservative-led coalition government had ruled out building a third runway at BAA's capacity-constrained Heathrow before the next election, in part to appease the junior Liberal Democrat partners and boost its green credentials.
However, several Conservative ministers have called for a third runway to be built at Heathrow.
McLoughlin's appointment as transport secretary earlier this week - replacing Justine Greening, a vocal critic of a third runway at Heathrow - indicated it could rethink its opposition to airport expansion in southeast England.
(Reuters)