Nigeria suspended the airline Emirates from flying into or out of its territory last week after the carrier imposed additional COVID-19 test requirements on passengers from the country, the aviation minister said on Monday. Emirates said last week passenger flights to and from Nigeria had been suspended until further notice in line with government directives, but did not give details. Aviation minister Hadi Sirika said that the airline had demanded passengers from Nigeria undertake three COVID-19 tests within 24 hours, leading the government to suspend its operations, with the exemption of cargo and humanitarian flights. “To make us go through three tests within 24 hours does not make sense. Since they insist, their operations remain suspended,” Sirika said.<br/>
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China’s HNA Group wants strategic investors for its airline and airport units, days after receiving court approval to merge 321 related companies into a single entity for restructuring purposes. The group, built on the foundations of flagship unit Hainan Airlines, disclosed on 19 March that it is searching for investors to “promote the reorganisation of HNA Group and related enterprises”, as well as the “sustainable and healthy development of [the] main business”. In the same disclosure, HNA Group laid out the conditions for investment, including qualifications for potential investors, as well as commitments that investors must adhere to. For instance, interested investors must have “good financial health” and “excellent corporate governance”, and can be either a single entity or a consortium comprising two or more investors. “Strategic investors with foreign investment shall comply with relevant regulations on foreign investment access,” HNA Group adds. It notes that existing airline operations must remain unchanged and unaffected by the investment.<br/>
The CE of British airline easyJet always expected bumps along the way to a travel recovery, he said on Monday, denying that a third wave of COVID-19 infections in Europe put the carrier at risk. Government ministers have repeatedly warned Britons not to book holidays abroad, given pandemic uncertainty, threatening airlines’ hopes for a summer recovery. The latest warnings sent travel and airline stocks down by as much as 8% on Monday. British PM Boris Johnson, meanwhile, said the rise in infections in continental Europe, a so-called third wave, could head to the UK, placing the peak holiday season in further jeopardy. “I never thought that this was going to be a straight line,” easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said Monday. Lundgren said he expected “bumps along the way” but what was important was that vaccines were being rolled out, providing light at the end of the tunnel. “The more you can successfully roll this out, the easier and the faster you can remove the (travel) restrictions because it will be safe to do so,” he said.<br/>
Air Arabia is optimistic about this year’s summer travel period, expecting more borders to reopen as more people are inoculated against the coronavirus. Uncertainty remains over the forthcoming season with the pandemic continuing and some governments saying it was too early to ease border restrictions that have badly hit airlines. “I expect a good summer subject (to the fact that) we don’t get hit with surprises of a third wave or something of that nature,” Air Arabia CE Adel Ali said. “Of course people will not go on holidays if they have to quarantine for two weeks but if it’s open they will,” he said. Ali said the Middle East recovery would initially be driven by regional and short-haul travel, with pent-up demand to visit friends and family and to go on holiday. Business travel would take longer to recover, he said.<br/>
Air Cairo is to open a new route between Cairo Int'l and Conakry (Guinea) via Niamey (Niger) during the next northern hemisphere winter to boost diplomatic and economic ties between Egypt and Guinea, according to Egyptian news reports. A statement by the Guinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that discussions in this regard had taken place in Cairo recently between a delegation lead by Guinean Foreign Affairs Minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba and Air Cairo CEO and chairman Hussein Sherif Fahmi. At the occasion, the airline made a presentation on the opportunities offered by opening the route between the two capitals. It had also seized the opportunity to seek the Guinean government’s support to gain Fifth Freedom rights on the Niamey-Conakry route, the statement said.<br/>
Constance von Muehlen has been named as Alaska Airlines’ new chief operating officer, effective 3 April. She replaces Gary Beck, who is retiring. A 30-year aviation veteran and the airline’s first female operations chief, von Muehlen will report to newly appointed chief executive Ben Minicucci, who assumes the role on 31 March. Additionally, she will chair the board of ground-handling subsidiary McGee Air Services.<br/>
Cebu Pacific Air continues to enjoy strong cargo yields amid a drop in domestic capacity that coincides with a sharp rise in e-commerce. “There’s a lot of cargo capacity that’s [disappeared], but the demand actually has continued,” says Alexander Lao, chief strategy officer at the low-cost carrier. “There are a lot more e-commerce transactions happening in the Philippines…the Lazadas of this world are shipping so much stuff, the Shopees of this world are shipping so much stuff. And we have seen an increase in cargo yields.” Lazada and Shopee are prominent e-commerce platforms in the Asia-Pacific. Lao gives the example of the Manila-Davao route, which the carrier operated five-times-daily before the coronavirus pandemic. This has been cut to about one flight daily, sharply reducing bellyhold capacity.<br/>