Travel News
Summer travel is returning: Here’s who’s booking and where they’re going - CNBC
BY Monica Buchanan Pitrelli
Europe on the move
More than half (56%) of Europeans intend to travel this summer with the vast majority choosing to stay within the continent, according to the European Travel Commission, a non-profit organization which represents over 30 countries in Europe.
Nearly half (49%) of survey respondents are planning trips to another European country, while 36% intend to stay within their own borders. Of those most likely to travel, 29% are making plans between May and June, while 46% are waiting for July and August, according to the research published in April.
Where Europeans plan to travel this summer
- Spain: 10.4%
- France: 7%
- Greece: 6.2%
- Germany: 5.2%
Source: European Travel Commission
Family and friends are taking a backseat this year; only 19% are booking trips primarily to see them. Two-thirds (66%) of those most likely to travel are motivated by leisure, with 34% favoring a seaside trip.
More than 50% of travelers are willing to fly, while car travel (36%) is the second most popular transport choice.
Portugal is 6th on the list of most popular destinations from the European Travel Commission, but its polling predates a mad dash for bookings by British travelers following Portugal’s inclusion on the U.K.’s “green list” on May 7.
Israel, Iceland and several other countries and overseas territories are also on the green list, which means that from today, travelers from England will not need to quarantine when returning from there.
Small town America
“Americans are continuing to take the opportunity to explore their own backyards and discover destinations within the U.S.,” said Misty Belles, managing director at Virtuoso, a global network of travel agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel.
While Hawaii and other beach locations are attracting those trying to relax after a stressful year, Alaska is enticing travelers who might otherwise have left the United States.
With 30 square miles of sand, the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, Colo. are attracting visitors seeking remote outdoor vacations.
Patricia Giraldo | Moment | Getty Images
“High-end travelers who might normally head to more exotic locations, like Africa, are opting for the outdoorsy, adventure playground and big game viewing of Alaska,” she said. “With no cruise ships coming into Alaska’s ports this season, people are exploring by land and discovering more of the interior terrain.”
California is drawing people to perennial favorites like Napa Valley, while travelers on the East Coast are booking trips to Nantucket and Cape Cod, said Belles, adding that summer availability in these areas is already scarce.
Places with less name recognition are drawing travelers too. Nearly 70% of Airbnb searches for the U.S. Memorial Day weekend are for off-the-beaten-path locations that are 50-300 miles from travelers’ homes. The site’s top trending rural locations for the holiday weekend starting May 29 — which is considered by some to be the unofficial start of summer in the United States — are:
- Alamosa County, Colo.
- Nye County, Nev.
- Sanpete County, Utah
- Angel Fire, N.M.
- Forks, Wash.
- Sandpoint, Idaho
- Washington County, Va.
- West Yellowstone, Mont.
- Jackson County, N.C.
- Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.
Compared to Memorial Day travel trends from two years ago, Airbnb data shows triple-digit search increases for tents (260%), houseboats (142%), farm stays (119%) and treehouses (111%) as some travelers ditch hotels for quirkier, remote accommodations.
While flight bookings have increased, road trips still reign — at least on social media. Since April 29, of more than 1.6 million travel-related conversations on Twitter, road trips were mentioned more than 32,000 times and flights 22,000 times, according to the Chicago-based social media analytics company Sprout Social.
Americans look to Europe
While Americans are largely expected to travel domestically this year, trans-Atlantic airfare searches spiked 47% after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen indicated vaccinated Americans may be able to travel to Europe this summer, according to the Montreal-based travel app Hopper.
London, Paris and Barcelona are the most popular European cities by total searches, however Hopper’s data showed Denmark (+84%), Poland (+72%) and Switzerland (+63%) saw the greatest percent change in searches following Leyen’s comments on April 25.
Read more on summer travel in the age of Covid
Here’s a complete list of destinations opening to vaccinated travelers
Six vaccinated medical experts reveal their summer travel plans
Alaska is out, but the Caribbean is full speed ahead: What we know about cruising in 2021
Online searches for Croatia (+31%) and Iceland (+22%), both of which are already open to Americans, also increased following von der Leyen’s comments.
“Internationally, we’re seeing great optimism for Europe’s reopening,” said Belles.
While Greece and Iceland are popular among Virtuoso’s clientele, she said “the top European destination, with bookings already secured before borders are even open, is Italy.”
“This isn’t entirely surprising considering Italy is always among the top destinations for the Virtuoso network, but it does illustrate that people are eager to return to their favorite spots,” she said.
Italy is the top European destination for Virtuoso’s American travelers this summer, even though the country hasn’t officially opened to them, said Misty Belles.
© Marco Bottigelli | Moment | Getty Images
Virtuoso’s top destinations for summer hotel bookings from Americans are (in order): the United States, Italy, Mexico, France, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Greece, Canada, Spain and Ireland.
If Europe opens to them, Americans may have another reason to rejoice. Flights to Europe are cheaper than they’ve been in the past, according to Hopper.
“Reopening a country can enable more competition among airlines and increase the supply of seats sold along those routes, which tends to lower airfare in the short-term,” said Adit Damodaran, an economist at Hopper.
Airfare to Iceland dropped after the country reopened, and similar trends are happening for trans-Atlantic flights as it becomes increasingly likely that Europe will open to vaccinated Americans this summer, he said.
The most searched European destinations by Americans from April 27 to May 11, according to Hopper’s data.
Courtesy of Hopper travel app
The trend, however, isn’t expected to last much longer.
“Hopper estimates airfare to Europe will bottom out at $700 round-trip around May 15, before rising towards $775 around mid-June,” said Damodaran.
There are particularly good deals on round-trip airfare to Portugal ($501) and Iceland ($530) last week, he said.
Asia at a standstill
Summer travel between Asian countries is still largely paralyzed, as the region grapples with rising Covid rates tied to the B.1.617 variant first identified in India last December.
Of the Maldives’ estimated 43,000 total Covid cases, more than 13,000 have been confirmed in the past two weeks.
Abllo Ameer | Moment | Getty Images
Infection rates remain high in places such as the Philippines and Indonesia, while vaccination rates are low across Asia. In the past month, countries with relatively stable case counts — places such as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — have seen an uptick in new infections too.
The few Asian destinations that are welcoming mass tourism, namely the Maldives and Sri Lanka, are experiencing calamitous spikes in infections.
Brits are now allowed to take vacations abroad — but the tourism industry is calling for more - CNBC
BY Silvia Amaro
KEY POINTS
- The sector is hoping that the government will lift compulsory quarantines for more destinations.
- Sunny European destinations, often chosen as holiday spots by British tourists, such as France, Spain, Italy and Greece are currently on the amber list, requiring self-isolation.
- Stocks in Europe’s travel and leisure sector fell more than 1% during early trading hours on Monday.
LONDON — British tourists are now able to fly abroad as Covid restrictions are eased, but only to a limited number of destinations — something that the tourism industry wants to change.
People in England and Scotland can fly to a list of 12 countries on the so-called green list from Monday without having to quarantine upon their return. This represents a massive change as vacations abroad have been illegal for months. The advice for people in Wales is only to travel for essential reasons, though taking trips is also no longer prohibited by law.
The changes in policy were welcomed by the tourism industry, which is keen to open for business after a challenging time during the pandemic. Nonetheless, the sector is hoping that the government will lift compulsory quarantines for more destinations.
“It is a cautious return to international travel. We would have liked to have seen more countries added to the green list,” Stewart Wingate, the CEO of Gatwick Airport told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick on Monday.
The green list represents the group of nations that tourists can visit without compulsory quarantine upon their return. For now, the list includes countries such as Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Iceland and Gibraltar, and it will be reviewed every three weeks.
We look forward to Spain, Italy and Greece being added to the U.K. green list in the next couple of weeks . Michael O’Leary RYANAIR CEO
Tourists arriving from one of these destinations will have to provide a passenger locator form, take a Covid test prior to boarding their return flight, and also book and pay for another Covid test for the second day after their arrival.
However, visits to nations on the so-called amber list require self-isolation for a period of 10 days, and trips to countries on the red list require a 10-day quarantine in a hotel.
Sunny European destinations, often chosen as holiday spots by British tourists, such as France, Spain, Italy and Greece are currently on the amber list.
“From an industry perspective what we would like to see is for our government to continuingly review the status of the countries, in particular places like the Spanish islands, the Greek islands and then, in due course over the coming weeks, some of the big destinations that we serve from Gatwick, such as Spain, Italy and Greece and the USA progressively placed on the green list when it is safe to do so,” Wingate said on Monday.
The CEO of budget airline Ryanair echoed this sentiment.
“We look forward to Spain, Italy and Greece being added to the U.K. green list in the next couple of weeks and I think that will accelerate the recovery of booking short-haul holidays from the U.K. to Europe certainly through to July, August and September,” Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, told CNBC on Monday.
The heads of British Airways and Heathrow Airport also urged the U.K. government to allow tourists to visit more European destinations and the U.S. without having to quarantine on their return, Reuters reported.
“It’s quite important for many of these airline companies that the green list is expanded,” Ruhell Amin, equity research analyst at William O’Neil and Co, told CNBC’s Street Signs Monday, adding that he expects to see more countries added in the coming weeks.
Stocks in Europe’s travel and leisure sector fell more than 2% on Monday.
Despite the ongoing easing of travel restrictions in the U.K, there’s still plenty of uncertainty facing the battered industry as quarantine rules are reviewed and the future of the pandemic remains unclear. Though vaccinations against the coronavirus have picked up pace in the U.K. and European Union, there are concerns about new variants —especially the one first identified in India — and their potential impact.
On Sunday, the U.K.’s Health Minister Matt Hancock told the BBC there is “increasing confidence” that Covid vaccines work against the variant identified in India. However, he added that the government cannot yet confirm whether all social restrictions will be lifted on June 21 as initially planned.
Immigration suspends issuance of new passports, renewals till June - DAILY POST
By
The Nigeria Immigration Service has announced the nationwide suspension of issuance of new passports and renewal of old ones in the country.
AB Yarima, Deputy Comptroller General of Immigration, in a statement, disclosed that all new passports and renewals will be suspended till 1st June 2021.
Part of the statement read: “The directive is to enable the commission clear all backlogs of applications sequel to the commencement of new passport regime on 1st June 2021.
“Consequently upon the foregoing, all PCOs are therefore directed to utilise this period 17th May to 31st May to ensure that all backlogs are produced and handed over t comannad comptrollers for collection by members of the public.”
The command advised the public to observe strict compliance to the circular till further notice.
Max Air’s flight suffers bird strike - THE NATION
By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor
Max Air’s Abuja bound aircraft yesterday suffered a bird strike 10 minutes after take-off at the Aminu Kano International Airport, (MAKIA) Kano.
The aircraft, according to sources, was forced to return to Kano.
The Max Air B737 plane with registration number VM1645, which was slated for take-off at 1.30 pm had about a 30-minute delay. The aircraft later took off around 2:00 pm with full passenger load.
A source close to the airline confirmed the incident.
He disclosed that the aircraft engine was hit by a bird during take-off, affecting some of the blades of the aircraft engine, forcing the captain of the aircraft to make an air-return, a standard practice in aviation to forestall an accident.
Where Can You Fly Right Now? U.S. Vaccine Drive Gives Airlines a Boost - BLOOMBERG
(Bloomberg) -- A powerful vaccine drive in the U.S. has pushed North America’s air-travel comeback past Asia’s for the first time since the Lunar New Year holiday in February.Airlines in the U.S. continued to gain momentum in the most recent week, based on data from flight tracker OAG. Asia, which had led all regions, lost ground as countries such as Singapore and Indonesia held back on air travel to fight a surge in coronavirus cases.
The switch highlights the power of accelerating Covid-19 vaccine programs in bringing back activities like entertainment and tourism that became high risk with the onset of the crisis last year. Countries that have quickly rolled out shots are making rapid progress toward the return of flying— including in Europe, where several nations have started to relax restrictions.
Air traffic there region still lags the rest of the developed world, but it’s begun to close the gap. The progress has been made possible by rising vaccination counts: notably in U.K., but also across the European Union.
Countries in Asia feeling the sting of rising cases have responded by tightening restrictions to counter the threat of a highly transmissible coronavirus variant that first took hold in India. This week, Singapore and Hong Kong suspended plans for a travel bubble that was set to start on May 26.
While Western countries have also taken such measures, they’ve emphasized accelerating vaccine rollouts to protect their populations. Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan, for example, are far behind the U.S., U.K., or Israel in per-capita inoculations.
What’s Happening in Air Travel This Week
Overall, air travel ticked up in the most recent week. Global capacity rose by one point to 58% of pre-crisis levels, based on Bloomberg’s weekly flight tracker, which uses OAG data to monitor the pulse of the comeback.
Aviation has been hit hard throughout the pandemic. The industry lost $126 billion last year and stands to bleed another $48 billion this year, based on estimates from the International Air Transport Association. Governments that slammed borders shut early on are loath to loosen up too quickly, fearful that — like India — they’ll backslide on progress fighting a disease that has now killed almost 3.4 million people.
The cautious pace of reopening means chances for a strong European bounce back in tourism this summer now rest on the peak of the season in July and August extending through September, when many tourists have traditionally gone back to work. This year, there’s hope that pent-up demand from vaccinated masses will extend for another month.
Airlines located inside of large domestic markets such as China, the U.S. and Australia have generally fared better than those in smaller locales like the U.K., Singapore or Greece. That dynamic is starting to shift, and vaccines are the big driver.
In the U.S., where 48% of the population has received at least one dose, carriers have added capacity to international destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America, fed by demand from vaccinated travelers less afraid to get on planes. Still, domestic flights make up 85% of the global total.
Overall, U.S. capacity is now down less than 25% from the same week in 2019, jumping more than 7 percentage points in the past month, with the big three of American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc., along with discount specialist Southwest Airlines Co. and others accelerating their expansions.
“Vaccinations have really picked up,” George Michalopoulos, chief commercial officer of Hungarian discounter Wizz Air Holdings Plc, said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market event in Dubai this week. The U.S. is “two to three months ahead of Europe but that shows the path forward.”
Europe Gets Going
In Europe, the return of international travel has been complicated by border rules set independently by more than two dozen countries. Progress was made this week, when the U.K. — which has gotten jabs into 55% of its population — finally removed a legal ban on leisure escapes. Sunny Portugal, one of the few countries on Britain’s “green list,” has been the biggest beneficiary.
Read more:Sun-Hungry Brits Head South as Flights Resume Post-Covid Ban Empty Airports, Glitchy Apps: How to Fly From LHR-JFK Right Now
Greece, Italy and France have also made strides, with EU vaccine rates accelerating and plans being rolled out to welcome more outside visitors. In all, airline capacity closed the gap with 2019 levels by 4.4 percentage points in the past week, the most of any region.
While vaccinations are the most important factor to a return to travel from a medical perspective, ending border restrictions will have a more-immediate impact transforming pent-up demand into ticket sales, said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG.
“Governments have got to start acting responsibly and in unison rather than unilateral declarations around lockdowns,’’ said Grant. “Those types of situations are just damaging everyone’s confidence and frustrating airlines.’’
Crossing the Pond
One key objective for U.S. and European airlines is a meaningful restart of trans-Atlantic flights. The highly profitable market was gutted last year as the virus first surged in the west. Some European countries such as Italy have started to ease restrictions on Americans, but the opening isn’t reciprocal.
On Tuesday, Deutsche Lufthansa AG added its voice to a growing chorus of airlines demanding decisionmakers from Washington and London to Brussels change the rules. The German carrier said it’s adding flights to Atlanta and Orlando starting in June based on rising demand, after curbs were loosened in its home country.
Meanwhile, U.S. businesses including hotel chains and car-rental firms are pushing hard for a reopening. The EU aims to lift recommended curbs on U.S. visitors as it introduces its Green Digital Certificate that should facilitate easier border checks.
Once curbs are lifted, a good portion of the trans-Atlantic market “could be back very quickly, since these routes are for many airlines amongst their most profitable and there is a large amount of pent up demand,” said OAG’s Grant. He said it may take until next year for schedules to be fully restored.
One catalyst for a rebound could be a meeting of the G7 nations in Cornwall, England, from June 11 to 13, said Sean Doyle, the chief executive officer of British Airways.
He said he expects Britain to be “the first country this side of the Atlantic” permitted to resume travel to U.S. for non-Americans.
UK’ll deny visas to Nigerians who disrupt 2023 polls - British High Commissioner - VANGUARD
By Egufe Yafugborhi
BRITISH High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has said the United Kingdom, UK, would deny visas to Nigerians who disrupt 2023 elections. Laing in a chat with Vanguard, yesterday, in Port Harcourt on her maiden visit to Rivers State, cautioned Governor Nyesom Wike and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to cement their legacies on a positive note by ensuring peaceful 2023 elections in Rivers State.
The envoy said: “I do have some sympathy for Nigeria because if we as UK have one of these problems your country is having today, we will be struggling. Here, you deal with everything, from insurgency to kidnapping, to piracy off the Gulf of Guinea and you don’t have such a large army and police force for a country of this size. “The only way you turn this thing around is that government has to build the trust of its people, to have the people working with the government to deal with criminality.
That’s how successful anti-criminal operations work. “People willingly report those committing crime, working with police to identify criminals, same with the military on the insurgency situation. It’s only when the community is on the side of the police and security services that they can turn around the situation.” On the expectations for Nigeria’s 2023 elections, Laing said: “2023 is not alright. What happens in the elections is very crucial, not just for Nigeria, but Africa to the world. You (Nigeria) are a large democracy.
“It doesn’t have to be a perfect election. There would be problems, but we want it to be better than the last one. We want it to be secure, peaceful, the process should be run well, and you need to get people to register.” On her choice of candidates, she said: “My ideal candidates would be two younger presidential candidates, both with female vice presidential candidates,” apparently referring to the two leading political parties.
To Wike and Amaechi on the next Rivers State governorship election, she said: “It is essential that there’s a peaceful election in Rivers State. It’s going to be a crucial part of his (Wike) legacy, how the election goes in this state. We’ve been saying the same thing to Amaechi. “Another thing we will be doing is to remind people that if people do incite violence or act violently, we will be prepared to deny them visas to the UK. We will make that statement clear and say it over again.”
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/20...
National carrier: Ministry prepares memo, plans 2022 takeoff date - PUNCH
BY Stephen Angbulu
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has assured Nigerians that the national airliner will swing into full operation by the first quarter of 2022.
He said this on Wednesday while answering questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Sirika added that his ministry would, in two weeks, submit a proposal for the project for FEC’s approval.
He assured Nigerians that despite the initial delays, the Federal Government was still working hard to launch the national carrier and get it working.
He said the coronavirus pandemic stalled the plans and launch of the project.
Sirika underscored the project’s importance to Nigeria’s economy, stressing that the population size, vantage geographical location and other natural factors made the national carrier an economic necessity.
He said, “In this 2021, we will try to do all the needful and probably we intend to start operations somewhere around first quarter 2022.
“It is still in top gear, we are coming back to council, hopefully within the next two weeks to present the memo on the national carrier.
“We went to council to approve the outline business case for the carrier and then the council raised some questions and asked us to go and do the memo again and bring it back.
“So, once it comes back and the outline business case is approved by council, then of course, we will now go to the full business case, which is now going to the market and then establishing the national carrier.
“It was our intention to have a national carrier running in 2021, which is this year, unfortunately due to COVID-19, which took the greater part of last year, since March last year, activities were almost impossible.
“This in itself, though negatively affected civil aviation in terms of the establishment of the national carrier, makes it a much better time to establish the carrier than before.”
Buhari approves four airports as special economic zones - PUNCH
BY Segun Adewole
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved four airports in Nigeria as Special Economic Zones.
The approved airports are Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers; Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.
“I am very glad to announce that Mr President has Approved our four International Airports as Special Economic Zones. These are Lagos, Kano, Abuja & Port Harcourt. Our roadmap working,” he tweeted.
The PUNCH reported that the minister, on Wednesday, assured Nigerians that the national airliner will swing into full operation by the first quarter of 2022.
He disclosed this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “In this 2021, we will try to do all the needful and probably we intend to start operations somewhere around first quarter 2022.
“It is still in top gear, we are coming back to council, hopefully within the next two weeks to present the memo on the national carrier.
“We went to council to approve the outline business case for the carrier and then the council raised some questions and asked us to go and do the memo again and bring it back.
“So, once it comes back and the outline business case is approved by council, then of course, we will now go to the full business case, which is now going to the market and then establishing the national carrier.”
Why Immigration Suspended Passport Production - THISDAY
BY Chinedu Eze
Overwhelmed by the plethora of demands by Nigerians desirous of leaving the country and pressured by the producers of the Nigerian passport to find the right pricing for the product, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) decided to suspend production of passports for two weeks.
Within that period, the NIS is expected to clear all the backlogs, including request for renewal and application for new passports, whose process had started and possible re-organisation of the top hierarchy of agency.
NIS in its verifiable twitter handle had stated: “All passport issuing centres have been directed to clear existing backlog of application on or before 31st May, 2021. To this effect, requests for fresh and reissue shall not be entertained with effect from 18th May 2021 to 31st May 2021 in all centres.”
THISDAY investigations revealed that there has been upsurge for demands for passports because, “people are desperately leaving the country.” Also, sources from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) disclosed that there has been upsurge in the number of Nigerians that are going for medical assessment for possible permanent stay in the UK, Australia and Canada.
“There are more asylum seekers from Nigeria. The demand for passport has increased exponentially, especially from the southern part of the country,” the source added.
THISDAY learnt that since last year there has been a spike in the demand of passports but many of those who had completed the requirements were yet to receive their passports so NIS faced piling demand which could reach choking level if Immigration continued to delay the issuance of completed passports. Passport Office Ikoyi, Lagos records the highest passport demand in Nigeria with average demand of 15,000-20,000 monthly, while Festac and Alausa offices produce about 50 per cent of that figure of about 7,500 to 10, 000 passports monthly.
But Immigration official from Ikoyi officer told THISDAY that the figures had doubled since after the lockdown in 2020, and the demand has continued unabated until the temporary suspension of passport issuance on May 17, 2021.
Immigration official at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos told THISDAY since after the lockdown the number of Nigerians who travel has continued to increase; although trips out of the country is seasonal, “there are high seasons and low seasons, but there have been progressive increase in the number of people that travel.”
“What is characteristic about migration is that more people leave the country during harsh economic situation and when the economy gets better more people will return to the country.
“This is not peculiar to Nigeria. But demographically, more people travel from southern Nigeria. In fact, it is largely southerners that pay for passports, even in the north; people from the south make more demand for passports.
“This is the first time scarcity of passport has lasted for too long. That is the reason why some of us feel that the scarcity may have been deliberate because this one lasted for over six months. There has not been any time in the past such scarcity lasted for up to two months.
“A lot of people are suffering because of this. Some Nigerians in Diaspora who returned to renew their passports dropped it and ran back overseas to secure their jobs. Students studying overseas seem to be the hardest hit because they cannot go to school. This is very tough for them,” a senior Immigration official who pleaded to remain anonymous told THISDAY.
THISDAY also learnt that the technical partner to NIS, Newworks Solution & Investment Limited and the producers of the passport, Irish Smart Technology Nigeria have been clamouring for the increase in the cost of the passports so that it could be profitable, due to naira depreciation.
Informed source disclosed to THISDAY that the new regime that would start in June, may be accompanied by new prices of the products and in order to sanitise the system, everything would be done online: applicants would make their application online and when the passports are ready Immigration would communicate to them online and now the period would take a minimum of six weeks.
THISDAY also learnt that the major reason why the passport booklets were scarce was because the producer of the passports, Irish Technologies was allegedly owed debts that run into millions of dollars by the Ministry of Interior. Although it was not confirmed that the debts had been paid but with the planned increase in the price of the products, it is hoped that Nigeria would be able to offset the debts.
Currently the Nigerian passports are produced overseas. The Ministry had a Public, Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the foreign company, which produces the enhanced e-passport, but it has refused to supply the product due to the alleged huge debts.
Informed source from NIS said that there has been amicable resolution between the Ministry of Interior, the Nigeria Immigration Service and its partners to solve the impasse, noting that by the time the new regime would kick off on June 1, 2021 “the whole issues would be resolved.”
However, industry observer told THISDAY that the rules to restrain passport applicants from having access to Immigration officials have been there, “but it is these officials that flout the rules to make extra money for themselves; so even this new rule that will go with the new passport regime will not stand.”
FG nabs black market airline operator, vows clampdown - BLUEPRINT
Following recent complaints on activities of illegal operations by private jet owners in Nigeria, federal authority has disclosed that culprits have been nabbed just as it is also scaling up its oversight functions in order to eradicate such nefarious businesses that cost the country billions of naira in revenue.
Describing the act whereby private jet owners use their aircraft for commercial purposes black market operations, Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Capt Musa Nuhu said the agency is prepared to arrest the situation by frequently carrying out ramp checks of hangers where aircraft are parked.
Capt. Musa Nuhu spoke at an online question and answer session with the Chairman, Africa Business Aviation Association, AfBAA, Mr. Nike Fadugba, said where he revealed that the NCAA has a culprit currently being investigated having been nabbed by its inspectors.
According to the CAA helmsman, a number of measures have been put in place that will ensure such erring operators are identified and made to bear the full weight of the law.
Capt Nuhu affirmed that the hitherto melt out sanction on charter operations run foul of its regulations in the form of fines and certificate sanctions as well as the permit for non-commercial flights, PNCF, a condition private operators are required to abide by.
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