Travel News

by Abisola Adigun

Saudi Arabia has implemented new visa regulations that limit travellers from 14 countries, including Nigeria, to single-entry visas valid for 30 days, with no option for renewal or extension.

The policy affects tourists, business visitors, and individuals visiting family members.

However, those applying for Hajj, Umrah, diplomatic, or residency visas are exempted from these restrictions.

The affected countries are Nigeria, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen.

Saudi authorities have justified the decision as a measure to address growing concerns about the misuse of multiple-entry visas.

According to officials, some travellers used these long-term visas to overstay, live in the country illegally, or participate in Hajj without proper authorization.

The Saudi government enforces a strict Hajj attendance quota system for each country to manage the annual pilgrimage and prevent overcrowding.

However, violations of this quota have contributed to severe congestion issues, especially in recent years. In 2024, the situation became critical when over 1,200 pilgrims lost their lives due to extreme heat and overcrowding. Authorities believe that unregistered pilgrims, many of whom entered the country on multiple-entry visas, exacerbated the crisis.

While officials have described the suspension of multiple-entry visas as a temporary measure, they did not specify how long the new policy will remain in place.

The government intends to evaluate the impact of the change before deciding on future adjustments.

Travellers from affected countries are urged to apply for their single-entry visas well in advance of their trips to avoid delays or disruptions.

Saudi authorities emphasised the importance of complying with the new guidelines to avoid penalties.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also advised travellers to stay updated on visa policies through official government channels and ensure they follow all entry requirements.

These new regulations are expected to significantly affect travel plans for thousands of individuals, especially business travelers and those with family in Saudi Arabia, who may need to adjust their travel schedules accordingly.

By Gift Habib

Nigeria and the Kingdom of Bahrain have officially established diplomatic relations following a visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar to Manama.

This was contained in a statement signed by the minister’s media aide, Alkasim Abdulkadir, on Sunday.

According to the statement, Tuggar held bilateral discussions with his Bahraini counterpart, Dr. Abdullatif Zayani, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including foreign direct investment, trade, and cooperation in the oil and gas sectors.

The discussions emphasised enhancing investment opportunities, particularly in onshore projects and the development of the 8th train LNG.

Additionally, both countries explored collaboration in training Nigerian diplomats and strengthening cooperation within multilateral forums.

As part of the visit, the two ministers signed a Joint Communiqué, marking a formal diplomatic agreement between Nigeria and Bahrain.

This step is expected to pave the way for deeper economic and political ties between the two nations.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has visited Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain, while in the Kingdom he engaged in bilateral discussions with his Bahraini counterpart, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

“The meeting focused on strengthening diplomatic relations, facilitating foreign direct investment from Bahrain, enhancing trade and investment opportunities, and fostering cooperation in the oil and gas sectors, with particular emphasis on onshore projects and the development of the 8th train LNG.

“The ministers also deliberated on the training of Nigerian diplomats and collaboration within multilateral forums.

“Both ministers signed a Joint Communiqué, officially establishing diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Bahrain. This agreement marks a significant milestone in fostering closer ties and mutual cooperation between the two nations,” the statement noted.

Bahrain’s broader strategy of fostering international partnerships was also highlighted, with Al Zayani recently chairing the third meeting of the national committee overseeing the implementation of initiatives from the Bahrain Summit.

Story by Cyann Fielding
 

A new start date has been set for the introduction of 'visas' for British travellers entering the European Union (EU).

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, confirmed that the new Entry/Exit System (EES) will not be introduced until November 2025. The delayed roll out of the EU's long trailered schemes means that Brits will have extra time before biometric border checks commence.

The EES was initially due to be implemented on November 10, 2024, however technical challenges and concerns from member states about its impact on border congestion, forced the implementation date to be pushed back.

When finally live, it will replace manual passport stamping with a digital registration process, requiring non-EU travellers, including British travellers, to provide fingerprints and facial recognition data when crossing the Schengen Area. The system will aim to streamline border security, by tracking entries and exits to the EU electronically.

The EES is not technically a 'visa' but rather a registration process, although it will function in a very similar manner to a visa from the holidaymaker's perspective.

However, port authorities and transport officials have warned about potential delays once the system launches. The initial registration process is expected to take time, especially at high-traffic points such as Dover and the Channel Tunnel. The Port of Dover is currently expanding its infrastructure, including additional registration areas, in an attempt to handle any long queues or bottlenecks, as passengers will need to exit their vehicles for biometric registration.

Labour’s boasts about tough immigration stance prompt disquiet in party as it attempts to counter Reform threat

BY  Pippa Crerar, Diane Taylor and Peter Walker

“The immigration rules must be respected and enforced. For far too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken,” she said.

“Not only does this create a dangerous draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat, but it results in the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy.”

Downing Street is planning to go beyond simply taking the fight to Reform. “We don’t think it’s enough just to look strong on migration, we actually need to be strong. We’ve done really well on returns but people say they don’t believe it, that if it was true they’d see it on the news,” a source said.

The government believes its record on migration could help retain Labour voters tempted by Nigel Farage’s party. More than 16,400 failed asylum seekers, irregular immigrants and foreign criminals have been deported since the election, although more than half left the country voluntarily.

By Alex Wickham

London’s Heathrow airport will unveil a short-term expansion plan including a timely commitment to prioritize British steel under threat from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, offering the hub a potential boost before a third runway is built.

Chief Executive Officer Thomas Woldbye will give a speech on Wednesday announcing plans to upgrade the hub and increase passenger numbers in the coming years, people familiar with the matter said.

By Olusegun Koiki

LAGOS – Emirates has signed an interline agreement with Air Peace, which would enhance the connectivity of its passengers travelling to and from Nigeria.

This agreement increased Emirates’ footprint to 13 new cities in Nigeria with frictionless single-ticket travel and simplified baggage throughput, a statement by its media consultant in Nigeria said.

The statement hinted that travellers booked on flights from Dubai to Lagos can access more of Nigeria, with onward connections to Asaba, Akure, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Ilorin, Kaduna and Owerri.

The statement added that the interline agreement would also benefit corporate travellers, connecting to additional cities in one of Africa’s major economic hubs, including its capital city Abuja, Kano, Uyo, Port Harcourt and Warri, thereby further supporting the strong bilateral trade relationship between Nigeria and the UAE.

The statement quoted Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President as saying that the airline was a steadfast partner of Nigeria’s tourism, trade and aviation sectors.

Kazim emphasised that this partnership with Air Peace was the next step on this journey, “bolstering our connectivity and introducing more travel options for corporate leisure, and travellers visiting friends and family to and from Nigeria.

“We look forward to deepening our strategic partnership with Air Peace in the future to enhance the benefits for our mutual customers,” he added.

Also, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Olajide, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Air Peace, expressed delight about this strategic interline partnership between the airline and Emirates.

She reiterated that this was a significant step towards enhancing global connectivity for Nigerian travellers, adding that it also aligned with Air Peace’s mission to provide seamless, world-class travel experiences while expanding its route network and international reach.

She added: “This collaboration not only expands Air Peace’s international reach but also offers Nigerians arriving from Dubai seamless access to key domestic destinations, including Asaba, Akure, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Ilorin, Kaduna, and Owerri.

“By improving ease of travel, we are boosting business, tourism, and trade opportunities, further strengthening economic ties between Nigeria and the UAE. This partnership also reinforces Nigeria’s aviation sector by enhancing connectivity, efficiency and positioning our country as a critical hub for regional and global travel.”

She maintained that Air Peace remained committed to providing greater connectivity, convenience and world-class service for its passengers.

Emirates’ Dubai-Lagos route is operated with a Boeing 777-300ER, offering the best experience in the sky.

As one of only two airlines operating first class into Lagos, the partnership enables more travellers from Nigeria to experience Emirates’ touches.

Also, Air Peace provides seamless connections domestically and internationally, via a fleet of aircraft, comprised of Airbus 320s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 777s, Dornier 328-300 Jets, Embraer 145s, and Embraer 195-E2s.

By Olasunkanmi Akinlotan

International airline, Emirates, has signed an interline agreement with Air Peace, to enhance connectivity for passengers travelling to and from Nigeria.

The partnership expands Emirates’ footprint to 13 new cities in Nigeria, with frictionless single-ticket travel and simplified baggage.

Emirates made this known through a statement jointly signed by the Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Of Emirates, Adnan Kazim, and Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Mrs Oluwatoyin Olajide, and made available to PUNCH Online on Tuesday.

According to the statement, Travellers booked on flights from Dubai to Lagos can access more of Nigeria’s cities with onward connections to Asaba, Akure, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Ilorin, Kaduna, and Owerri.Both airlines opined that the interline agreement would also benefit corporate travellers, connecting to additional cities in Nigeria, including Kano, Uyo, Port Harcourt, Warri, and Abuja.

Travelers Cos. said it expects about $1.7 billion of pretax losses from the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles last month.

The estimate includes losses from the company’s personal and commercial segments, as well as assessments from the California FAIR Plan and recoveries from reinsurance, the New York-based company said in a statement

 Tuesday.

By Ben Elgin

(Bloomberg) -- Global air travel surged to record levels last year, and airlines are consuming far less sustainable jet fuel than expected. This is a dire combination in the effort to counteract climate change, with aviation contributing about 4% of human-induced warming to date.

Most carriers have vowed to address their growing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by using vastly more fuels derived from lower-emitting sources like used cooking oil and energy crops. Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines Inc., and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. are among a large group of airlines promising to consume 10% sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, by 2030.

But adoption of these cleaner fuels has been slow even as air travel jumped 10% in 2024—and 4% above pre-pandemic levels—to reach an all-time high, according to figures released last month by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). SAF accounted for about 0.3% of commercial aviation’s fuel consumption last year, according to IATA’s estimates, well below the industry group’s earlier forecast of 0.53% for 2024.

To reach 2030 targets, airlines will need to boost consumption of SAF more than 30-fold.

“I think 10% is a target that likely won’t be met by 2030,” says Jimmy Samartzis, chief executive officer of LanzaJet Inc., which is building several sustainable fuel plants around the world, including in the US and the UK. “I think that’s just the reality across the industry.”

All of this obscures a potentially bigger problem: Even if airlines can somehow replace 10% of their fuel with lower-emitting alternatives by the end of the decade, those climate benefits would be wiped out by the industry’s expected growth. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, for instance, recently spurned climate activists by voicing approval for the construction of a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport. IATA, meanwhile, predicts global air travel will grow another 8% this year.

“Growth typically scuppers what you try to do on the decarbonization side of aviation,” says Alice Larkin, professor of climate science and energy policy at the University of Manchester in the UK. 

The airline industry counters that air travel is important for overall economic growth, which will be needed to fund a massive energy transition to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. “What we really need to be able to tackle climate change is more growth…more tax revenue and more money to fund all of these things that we are going to have to do,” says Marie Owens Thomsen, chief economist and senior vice president of sustainability at IATA.

The aviation industry expects that SAF production will skyrocket after 2030, eventually supplying up to 90% of its fuel. And it attributes the recent shortfalls to the lack of supply, with only a handful of companies historically producing the cleaner fuels.

Several new large plants have started operating in recent months. Diamond Green Diesel, a joint venture between Valero Energy Corp. and Darling Ingredients Inc., recently started up its refinery in Texas, which can produce over 200 million gallons of SAF per year. Phillips 66, meanwhile, has converted a refinery near San Francisco to churn out renewable fuels.

In both cases, though, the refineries can toggle between producing renewable fuels for road transportation or aviation, depending on various factors, including appetite from airlines. With SAF costing at least twice as much as conventional jet fuel, it’s not clear if airlines will gobble up the available supply. Officials for Valero and Phillips 66 both declined to say how much SAF the refineries have been producing so far in 2025.

A patchwork of new regulations could spur more demand. Starting this year, both the European Union and the UK require that SAF accounts for 2% of jet fuel. Singapore is planning to add a levy to tickets next year to purchase more of the cleaner fuel, while the Canadian province of British Columbia will require jet fuel to be at least 1% SAF by 2028.But many airlines push back against these types of requirements. California regulators withdrew a proposal last year to require more SAF amid opposition from airline industry groups. This has left voluntary purchases by airlines — buttressed by a patchwork of government incentives — as the sole driver for cleaner aviation fuels across much of the world.This voluntary demand has disappointed some makers of SAF. Neste Oyj, a Finnish producer of cleaner aviation fuel, warned in October of lackluster voluntary purchases and said that some airlines were looking to postpone their carbon-reduction plans. (Air New Zealand ditched its 2030 climate target last summer, but Neste declined to name any specific carriers.)There was no indication of a pullback at a BloombergNEF conference last week in San Francisco, where officials at Delta and United Airlines Holdings Inc. touted their ongoing commitments to cleaner fuels. “We know it’s the right thing for United, we know it’s the right thing for our shareholders,” said Lauren Riley, United’s chief sustainability officer, during a conference panel. “We’re going to continue to invest in sustainable aviation fuels.”SAF accounted for 0.17% of United’s jet fuel consumption in 2023, which was right around the global average that year; Delta came in at 0.09%. Some European airlines are further ahead: Air France-KLM led all passenger carriers with over 1% SAF in 2023. (Most individual airlines haven’t yet reported their 2024 totals.)Riley praised new state incentives, like a $1.50 per gallon credit in Illinois, which can help make SAF pencil out for airlines. “I now have reason to walk into my CFO’s office and say, ‘I want to go procure this sustainable aviation fuel for use at O’Hare, which is our hometown hub, at this volume, because we can actually afford it,’” she said. “Having these state-based policies is really, really important.”Unexpected setbacks, however, still loom large for many SAF plants under construction. BloombergNEF, which tracks the development of renewable fuel facilities, found that 46 forthcoming plants announced delays last year.When LanzaJet announced the opening of its new SAF plant in rural Georgia a little over a year ago, it hoped to reach its full annual output of 10 million gallons by the end of 2024. But the plant has yet to produce any jet fuel after the facility was pounded by Hurricane Helene in September, which knocked it offline for six weeks. It’s also been dealing with “some standard equipment issues and challenges with things like compressors,” says LanzaJet’s Samartzis. 

“It takes time to sort of work your way through, work out the kinks, optimize the unit, and ensure that it is safely producing fuel,” he says.These challenges fuel skepticism that there will be enough SAF—and that airlines will purchase all of the available fuel—to hit their climate targets.“A lot of people bandy around quite a lot of numbers in relation to SAF, as though once you’ve said it, it’s just going to materialize,” says Larkin of the University of Manchester. “I’m very skeptical at the moment as to whether you can make those sorts of quantities.”

By Princess Etuk

The Nigeria Railway Corporation is optimistic the train services between Minna and Lagos will commence within the next few months.

NRC’s Managing Director, Kayode Opeifa, gave this assurance via his official X account.

The development aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, which aims to support states and businesses engaged in productive ventures that help reduce the cost of goods.

In a statement, Opeifa assured the former Lagos State governor that the corporation would support his administration with logistics and the supply chain process within the country, as they are part of its mandates.

The statement partly read, “He expressed hope that within a couple of months, there would be train services between Minna and Lagos.

“He said the NRC has aligned with the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and will support every state of the federation and businesses involved in productive ventures that would bring down the cost of goods just like what the Niger Foods

“The Niger State Government has continued discussion with the Nigerian Railway Cooperation NRC to ensure a solid partnership for safe transportation of food items within Nigeria by rail.”

Recall that the Niger State government had some months ago opened discussions with the NRC to establish a partnership that would provide every necessary support to end the post-harvest losses associated with logistics, among others.