Travel News

By Funmi Ogundare

All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential aspirant and Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, yesterday described the issue of brain drain and migration of medical doctors out of the country as not totally a bad situation, saying they would come back home better equipped with knowledge to make the desired impact in the country.

Ngige, who was a guest on 'The Morning Show' on Arise News Channel, yesterday stressed that there was nothing wrong with doctors leaving Nigeria.

He argued: "This is not a phenomenon that is new in Nigeria. By 1982 and 1984, our doctors were moving to Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom. It was not a new thing. By 1990, they were moving to the United States. These countries need our doctors because they are well trained.

"Our medical doctors and consultants are the best. With the slide of the naira. When I was in the medical school, it was two dollars to one naira. But when I was graduating, it became 78 kobo to one dollar and with Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), it moved to five dollars. Viz-a-viz the earning power locally and abroad, it is a thing the doctors can't resist and they moved in the 80s and 90s.

"What I am saying is that it is not all that bad in such a situation. Those doctors and consultants came back with better knowledge while some came back with equipment. What am saying is that all hope is not lost."

Responding to a question on doctor-patient ratio and whether the country has been able to meet the World Health Organisation's (WHO) standards, the minister said so far, no country in the world had been able to meet except Austria that is closer to it.

However, he said Nigeria should be able to deploy its doctors appropriately especially to the rural areas.

He said: "I asked the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) if we have deployed the ones we have here appropriately? The answer is no. Seventy per cent of doctors in Nigeria are in urban cities.

"Some of them are unemployed and I am saying that if we deploy these people properly in the rural areas and pay them rural allowances, the doctor/patient ratio would not be noticed.

"If we deploy all our NYSC doctors, in the Primary Health Centre (PHC), then the basic healthcare system would have gone up. Deployment is another issue. Why should people come to the urban centres and are not employed anywhere and you are employed as ad hoc staff?

"Don't forget that these doctors were trained with tax payers' money and they were paying N80,000 in a term," Ngige stressed.

Speaking on the ASUU strike, he expressed concern that conciliation has failed between the federal government and the union, adding that most of the things in the 2009 agreement are not implementable.

"When the unions come to me, it means their employers have failed, my office is to serve as a conciliator between workers and employers. So when you see ASUU coming too, it means conciliation has failed too in education and once they come, if am unable, I should send them to National Industrial Court for their employers to adjudicate for them.

"So, most of the time my job is to listen to the complaints of the parties and take document from the ministry of finance and pass it on to ASUU. For ASUU, the document they will hold is 2009 agreement which was not signed by this administration. A lot of the things there are not implementable," Ngige said.

There was tension at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, when the tyres of a Dana Air plane heading for Port Harcourt caught fire....

By  Abdullateef Aliyu

There was tension at Port Harcourt International Airport when the tyres of a Dana Air plane heading for Lagos caught fire.

The 50 passengers on board the aircraft were immediately evacuated as the pilot aborted takeoff.

However, all the aboard  were safely disembarked.

The airline confirmed that the Pilot-in-Command of the MD-83 aircraft with registration number 5N-JOY aborted takeoff after noticing some anomaly.

In a statement by its spokesman, Kingsley Ezenwa, the airline said, “Our aircraft with registration number 5N JOY operating flight 9J 344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos on 2nd of May 2022 was set to take off when the pilot in command noticed an anomaly which he queried with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) before embarking on a ramp return in line with our strict safety operating procedures

“However, the impact on the brakes as a result of the aborted take off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing to repark.

“All 50 passengers onboard the aircraft disembarked safely and our maintenance team immediately grounded the aircraft pending the conclusion of their investigations.  Once again, we sincerely apologize to all the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight.

“At Dana Air, the safety of our passengers and crew will remain a top  priority in all aspect of our operations and we will continue to operate in accordance with the civil aviation regulations and global best practices.”

Flight attendants report sleeping on airport floors when employers fail to find them hotel rooms

US airlines are still experiencing staffing shortages as air travel rebounded after initial Covid-19 shutdowns in 2020 when many airline workers were encouraged to go on furlough, resign, or retire early.

The phenomenon promises to disrupt travel for flyers even as Americans largely seek to return to many pre-pandemic habits, including air travel for work and tourism.

At JetBlue, flight delays and cancellations have been attributed to staff shortages. Transport Workers United, which represents about 5,000 flight attendants at JetBlue, criticized the airline’s blaming of flight attendants for not accepting enough assignments, causing delays and cancellations.

The union argued JetBlue had responded to staff shortages and operational problems by increasing disciplinary actions toward workers, including increasing the amount of critical coverage days workers must be available to work or else accrue disciplinary attendance points that could lead to termination.

“Historically, JetBlue has always run a skeleton staff of crew members in all their departments,” said a longtime flight attendant at JetBlue who requested to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak with the media.

The flight attendant said problems related to Covid-19 such as canceled, rescheduled or delayed flights that prolong time on duty or away from home and difficulties with transportation and hotel lodging for flight attendants have made many workers reluctant to accept extra assignments.

They also said many flight attendants experiencing delays or flight changes have waited several hours for JetBlue to get them a hotel room or transportation to a hotel in a layover city, cutting into their rest time. Some have given up and paid for a hotel or transportation out of pocket.

“You are kept hostage at times and are unable to get home. This is really hard for people that do have children or parents that they help take care of,” the flight attendant said. “They’re not thinking of us as humans. We’re still human beings involved in all of this too. We want to see our company succeed and we all want to come to work, we want to do the best we can, we want the passengers to keep coming back, but I feel like the thought of us as actual human beings has been removed from the equation. We’re just robots that are here to get the job done and I think that’s the thing we’re struggling with the most, that there is no respect for the workers any more.”

Gary Peterson, vice-president of the air division at Transport Workers United, argued JetBlue and other carriers have been competing in a race to the bottom terms of how workers are treated, retaining enough workers, and maintaining airline jobs as career jobs.

“I think there’s a systemic problem in the industry – everybody’s trying to compete against the lowest carrier, instead of setting themselves up to be the premier carrier,” said Peterson. “Sleeping in the hallway at the airport – that never used to happen in the industry, and now it’s becoming the new norm.”

At Spirit Airlines, staffing problems have contributed to four operation meltdowns since August 2021, an unheard-of frequency according to the Association of Flight Attendants – Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA).

Workers at Spirit Airlines have protested outside airports in Las Vegas, Orlando and Dallas in recent weeks over contract violations by the airlines, mass cancellations that have stranded flight attendants, and persistent staffing shortages.

Don Reno Intreglia, a Spirit Airlines flight attendant based in Orlando, Florida, and AFA-CWA vice-president for Spirit Airlines, said the airline’s cancellation team and a separate team that handles flight attendant scheduling will get out of sync or fall behind, causing a domino effect in operations and leaving flight attendants to deal with frustrated passengers with no information.

The result, he said, had been flight attendants being stranded away from home with no hotel lodging, left for up to 30 hours with no answers or resolution.

“It’s been horrible on the morale for the flight attendants, because you’re sleeping on an airport floor, you’ve got pretty much nowhere to go. We had flight attendants who were getting kicked out of airports in the middle of the night,” said Intreglia. “We want the traveling public to know that we’re trying to pressure management into making serious changes, so that we are prepared for the summer travel.”

Pilots have been experiencing similar difficulties.

Pilots with Alaska Airlines are voting on a strike authorization as new union contract negotiations continue and the airline experiences a shortage of pilots.

At Delta Air Lines, pilots represented by the Airline Pilots Association have been protesting over the past several weeks outside Delta hubs in Seattle, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, over excessive scheduling and fatigue.

“Our pilots are tired and fatigued,” said Captain Evan Baach. “Our pilots are working record amounts of overtime, we’re working longer days, we have shorter nights in between our duty periods. We want the company to match their words with action and make changes to the pilot schedules.”

A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines said in an email, “Pilot schedules remain in line with all requirements set by the FAA as well as those outlined in our pilot contract. All of our people, including our pilots, are working hard to restore our airline and deliver for our customers as we emerge from the pandemic. We are grateful for and proud of their efforts.”

JetBlue and Spirit Airlines did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

By Ahmed Musa

ABUJA – The leadership of the National Hajj Com­mission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has as­sured intending pilgrims that it was working to minimise the rising cost of participating in the holy exercise in 2022.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the chairman and chief executive officer of the Com­mission, Alhaji Zikirullah Kunle Hassan, to congratu­late Muslim faithful on the occasion of this year’s Eid-el Fitr in Abuja.

The NAHCON boss equal­ly disclosed that the commis­sion has made significant progress in its preparation for the 2022 Hajj exercise, just as he informed pilgrims of newly introduced policy guidelines issued by the king­dom of Saudi Arabia.

The statement reads: “By the special favour of the Al­mighty, we witness the end of Ramadan fast, glory be to Him that makes any situ­ation possible. On behalf of my humble self, NAHCON Board, management, and entire staff, I congratulate Nigerian Muslims for being alive to celebrate this joyous occasion of Eid-el-Fitr. I pray that we have exited the holy month of Ramadan with an exalted demeanor than when we started. I also pray that the Almighty grants the suppli­cations that we made for our­selves and for our country. May all our acts of worship be rewarded with jannatul firdaus.

“As we revel in the prospect of participating in Hajj 2022, I would like to reassure our intending pilgrims and other stakeholders that NAHCON has reached a significant preparatory stage with criti­cal partners essential to the success of Hajj operations. Similarly, the Commission is exploring every possible window to minimize the in­evitable increase in Hajj fare. It is in the light of this that I urge our intending pilgrims and other stakeholders to re­ciprocate NAHCON’s effort through timely payment of dues as soon as the final fare for Hajj 2022 is announced. A timely move in this direction will help management in de­termining the number of pil­grims the Commission would be making arrangements for, which is an important para­digm for a successful Hajj.  

Furious Qantas passengers say they were left without their bags for up to six days after the airline flew them from Darwin to London without checked baggage, due to weight restrictions caused by a crumbling patch of runway at Darwin airport.

The Guardian understands Qantas only became aware of the urgent runway repairs and weight restrictions at Darwin shortly before the scheduled flights early last week.

The airline was forced to offload baggage so that its heavier long-haul aircraft did not require the entire runway, allowing it to avoid the patch of pavement that was deteriorating due to heavy rain.

Passengers flying into London on Monday 25 April on QF9 said they were informed about 20 minutes before landing at Heathrow that all economy checked bags had been left behind in Darwin.

Marnie Greenrod was one of more than 60 passengers on the flight who waited more than five days to be reunited with their luggage.

She said that the inflight announcement told affected passengers a Qantas representative would provide information about what to do when they landed at 5am UK time. They were instead met by Heathrow ground staff who provided them with forms to track their luggage, and said they would receive an email with an individual code.

“We were told they would not be processed until it was certain our bags had not made it, so we stood and watched the carousel for at least 45 minutes,” Greenrod said.

Greenrod, who lives in London, said passengers were assured their bags would follow in 24-48 hours, but she did not receive hers until six days later, received no communication from Qantas and was unable to track the progress of her luggage.

It’s understood that flights from Darwin to London were subject to weight restrictions for several days, meaning the bags from previous flights could not be loaded.

Alison Taylor was also on the 25 April flight. She said she did have a reference code for her luggage, but was only able to track its movements via Twitter, thanks to a fellow passenger who had an AirTag on their bag.

“Only once I did get through after waiting on hold for an hour and 40 minutes, and I got through to reservations in Fiji!”

Taylor was given another reference number and told she could go and buy any supplies she needed, send in the receipts and be reimbursed. But having received no response from her three emails to Qantas customer care, Taylor did not proceed.

“Mine eventually showed up last night, but wet and stinky, obviously left out in the rain somewhere. The whole thing has been extremely frustrating.”

Passengers on subsequent Darwin to London flights claim Qantas sent them text messages advising them to pack immediate supplies including medication and clothing for a few days in their hand luggage as their check in baggage would not be travelling on their flight.

Sam Thanos said he received this text message after he and fellow passengers had already checked their suitcases, so was of little use.

Thanos has spent five hours on hold to Qantas call centres since he arrived in London on Saturday, trying to track down his bags that never arrived after he flew out of Melbourne, via Darwin. Passengers were told that their luggage was 24 hours behind them, but Thanos is into his third day of waiting.

“It has completely killed the start of our holiday,” Thanos said.

While Qantas cited weight restrictions, Thanos says the plane was no where near capacity.

“Economy was half full,” he said. “Most rows passengers had to themselves, which was great for them to lay down during the flight.”

When Thanos and his wife arrived in London, passengers were given an information leaflet and a unique identifier to register online. The contact number provided on the sheet went to voicemail, telling callers that due to changed circumstances they would not be taking calls.

“We are staying with my wife’s parents, which at least has been easy for us in not moving about.

“I overheard other people talking to the person handing out the papers, saying they are moving every other day during their holidays, so for them it is probably even more of a nightmare.”

A Qantas spokesperson said “an issue with the runway pavement at Darwin Airport resulted in temporary additional weight restrictions on our flights to London last week and unfortunately that meant we weren’t able to carry some passengers’ bags on their flight”.

“Bags were reaccommodated on later flights and are couriered directly to customers as soon as we’re able to confirm the correct address. We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused our passengers and thank them for their understanding,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson did not respond to claims support staff had been unresponsive, however it is understood the airline is recruiting more call centre operators after recent complaints.

It’s understood the Darwin airport runway issue has now been fixed, allowing flights to take off with a full load of luggage on board.

A Darwin airport spokesperson said “routine repairs to the runway are scheduled throughout the year, however weather conditions have brought forward the need to conduct this work sooner than expected”.

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. credit card borrowing is set to jump almost 8% to a five-year high in 2022, adding to evidence that a surge in the cost of living is straining household finances.

Demand for consumer credit may climb a further 5.5% in 2023 on top of this year’s expected 7.9% rise, according to the consultancy EY. The increase would mark a reversal of the trend during the pandemic when many people stayed at home and didn’t spend money, leading to a 12% drop in consumer credit in the past two years, EY said. 

Borrowing on charge cards rose 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) in February alone, the biggest increase since the Bank of England started to keep records in 1993. Inflationary pressures driven by the war in Ukraine will prompt consumers to turn to credit cards even more to fund spending and cover bills, according to the EY ITEM Club U.K. Bank Lending Forecast. 

The soaring prices of essential goods could create a break on some unsecured loans growth, as some households may be forced to cut spending on non-essential items and expensive products.

Other forms of borrowing could also fade due to cost of living pressures. Mortgage lending is set to fall to 3.8% this year from 4.3% in 2021, while business lending will feel the knock-on effects from supply chain disruption, EY said. 

“The current economic pressures, exacerbated by geopolitics, are likely to weigh on appetites for most forms of bank lending, with the exception of credit card borrowing as people rely more on credit to finance essential spending,” said Anna Anthony, U.K. financial services managing partner at EY. “If there are silver linings to be found both for consumers and for the firms financing lending activity, it’s that interest rates currently remain historically low.”

By Abdullateef Aliyu

The planned reconstruction of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) old terminal in Lagos, which was contracted to Julius Berger for N14bn in May 2019 may experience further delay over the ‘discrepancies’ in the newly commissioned new terminal, Daily Trust can report.

>span class="s1">Weeks after the commissioning of the terminal by President Muhammadu Buhari, only Air Peace has moved its regional and international operations to the new terminal.

Also, African World Airlines (AWA) is planning to relocate to the new airport since it uses smaller aircraft for its regional operations.

Our correspondent reports that most of the over 30 foreign airlines operating in Nigeria have refused to move due to the capacity constraint.

Stakeholders have expressed concern over the development, saying the huge investment sunk on the project could make little meaning if the ‘anomaly’ was not swiftly corrected.

President of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Ben Nnabue in his May Day message made a reference to the ‘anomaly’.

He said, “We also call on the federal government to urgently address the serious shortcomings of the newly commissioned international terminal at MMIA so as to put the terminal to use. It will be a major disservice to this administration should the terminal turn out to be a white elephant. This must be avoided at all cost.”

But of particular concern to stakeholders is the delay in the reconstruction of the old terminal, which is wearing out on a daily basis on account of old age.

The MMIA terminal was built in 1978 and was officially opened in March 1979.

40 years after commissioning, the facility designed for 200,000 passengers has not undergone any structural change and expansion despite the exponential growth in passengers.

>span class="s1">Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika had on May 19, 2019, told a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos that the federal government had decided to contract Julius Berger to handle the reconstruction of the old terminal.

“Thankfully, we have found a solution to the problems though N14bn is a lot of money”, he had said, adding that operations at the terminal would be moved to the new terminal constructed by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC).

However, despite the commissioning of the new terminal, the old terminal may undergo much more maintenance works as there is uncertainty over when all the airlines would move to the new terminal.

“This is the quagmire we are currently facing and I only hope a solution would be found urgently to this quagmire. The reconstruction of the old terminal can only happen after all the airlines relocate to the new terminal, which is not likely to happen any time soon,” said a source with ample knowledge of the new developments relating to the busiest airport in Nigeria.

Acting spokesperson for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Faithful Hope-Ivbaze declined comments on the development.

She had once told our correspondent that there are plans for the expansion of the apron of the new terminal to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft.

“There is going to be expansion. There are expansion plans already. You cannot build this kind of edifice without taking into consideration larger aircraft, it doesn’t make sense,” she had said.

Speaking with our correspondent, aviation analyst, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, rtd, said any attempt to relocate all the airlines to the new terminal would be causing massive flight delays.

He said, “The terminal building was ready but without adequate parking apron space. There are six boarding gates as against 12 in the old terminal building. What this means is that the new building is a potential facility that will cause regular delays of flights if more airlines than it can accommodate would operate from there.

“Right now, one airline is given to operate regional, continental and intercontinental from the terminal. That airline alone will be occupying three of the six boarding gates except the terminal operator will be allocating slots to airlines that will be using the terminal…”

Also speaking with our correspondent, an Aeronautical Engineer, Layi Fatimilehin blamed the current development on lack of proper planning.

He said, “Any individual or group of people referred to as organisation primarily have a target of making profits when he/she or they invest in any project or business at all. Whereby such objectives or goals are set aside and profits become allusion and people cannot also benefit from the investment, your guess is as good as mine. If you say poor planning, I will not object.”

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

Dana Air has shed more light on the circumstances leading to aborted take-off of one of its aircraft on a  Port Harcourt-Lagos flight on Monday.

In a statement by its Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, explained that the aircraft with registration number 5N JOY operating flight 9J 344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos on May 2,  2022 was set to take off when the pilot- in-command noticed an anomaly which he queried with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) before embarking on a ramp return in line with the airline’s strict safety operating procedures

It noted that the impact on the brakes as a result of the aborted take-off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxing to re-park

All 50 passengers onboard the aircraft, according to the statement, disembarked safely.

“Our maintenance team immediately grounded the aircraft pending the conclusion of their investigations. Once again, we sincerely apologise to the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight.

“At Dana Air, the safety of our passengers and crew will remain a top priority in all aspects of our operations and we will continue to operate in accordance with the civil aviation regulations and global best practices,” it added.

BY   Pedro Goncalves·Finance reporter

Across the UK, surging house prices have pushed 4.3 million homes into higher stamp duty brackets, leaving prospective buyers to pay more taxes.

Around 1.5 million more properties across the UK are now subject to stamp duty or its equivalent tax compared with two years ago as house prices rise, according to Zoopla.

The average UK house price has increased by around £29,000 since March 2020 to stand at £249,700, Zoopla said.

In total, 3.5 million homes in England and Northern Ireland have moved up into a higher stamp duty threshold. A further 815,000 properties have moved over property tax thresholds in Scotland and Wales.

Read more: House prices: UK's property hotspots revealed

Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said: “Buyer demand has been very strong ever since the end of the first lockdown in 2020, and the start of this year has been no exception. This demand, coupled with constrained levels of supply has put upward pressure on pricing — with the average property now worth an additional £29,000 compared to March 2020.

“This has pushed millions more homes into higher stamp duty brackets, meaning that if they come to market, there is an additional cost for buyers.”

Rising house prices are also having an effect on those keen to get their foot on the property ladder.

First time buyers are now spending an average of £225,000 to buy their first home, an increase of £27,000 compared to two years ago.

This means that this group of prospective buyers now require an additional £4,000 for a deposit, despite average annual earnings increasing by only £2,704 over the last two years.

They also need an additional £5,000 in annual household earnings or income in order to secure a mortgage, which equates to £417 per month.

Read more: One in three struggle to access credit in UK as lenders refuse loans

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The stamp duty holiday had a nasty sting in the tail. Hundreds of thousands of people have actually paid more tax, thanks to the huge hike in house prices fuelled by the tax break.

"These higher tax bills are piling yet more pressure on buyers, who are already facing the stress of rampant house price rises, hikes in mortgage rates and runaway bills, which make it increasingly difficult to cover the cost of the mortgage."

A stamp duty holiday was in place for much of the pandemic and was phased out last year.

Stamp duty receipts in England and Northern Ireland reached £18.6bn in the year to March 2022, an increase of £6.1bn on the previous year.

Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland. In Wales, the land transaction tax (LTT) has replaced stamp duty and in Scotland the land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) is applied to property purchases.

One of UK’s largest car insurers has warned that motorists could see an increase in premiums due to the soaring price of used cars.

Direct Line said higher prices were needed to combat shortfalls in covering claims for increasingly expensive second-hand cars.

Current price rises across the market are not enough to cover “the level of claims inflation” driven by “continued elevated used car prices,” Direct Line said.

The average price of a used car has risen for 24 months in a row, according to Auto Trader, adding £4,400 to the cost of an average used vehicle. Prices rocketed due to a combination of higher demand as people avoided public transport during the pandemic and problems with supply of new cars, first due to factory shutdowns and more recently due to supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages.

Elevated used car prices impacted Direct Line’s total loss and theft claims in general in the first quarter of the year, while supply chain disruption delayed the time it took to repair broken down motors.

The Bromley-based company, which owns the Churchill insurance brand, said written premiums were down 2.4% at £734 million in the first quarter. Motor premiums slid 5% and home insurance income decreased by 10%.

The company was hit by the introduction of new Financial Conduct Authority rules in January that banned insurance companies from raising the premiums of current customers across motor and home insurance.

Penny James, CEO of Direct Line Group, said the results were “broadly in line with expectations”.

“In an important quarter for motor and home markets, prices adjusted for the introduction of the FCA Pricing Practices review, but we believe have not fully reflected claims inflation,” James said.

“In this context, we achieved a lot, pushing forward key elements of the strategy, increasing customer retention in motor and home and delivering double-digit growth in commercial.”

The insurer said damage from storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin were now expected to be around £40 million, compared with an early estimate of £30 million to £40 million, across its home and commercial divisions. Claims should be covered by its weather budget of £73 million for the year.

Shares in the FTSE 100 group dropped more than 6% in early trading. Rival Admiral saw shares drop 3.8% on the outlook for the sector.