Travel

All Africans can now travel visa-free to Rwanda. President Paul Kagame announced the new policy on Thursday, making his country to become the latest nation on the continent to waive visas to other African nationals after The Gambia, Benin and Seychelles. Speaking at the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council, holding in Kigali, Rwanda, Kagame said …

Ghana and South Africa have entered into an agreement for a visa waiver regime for holders of ordinary passports. This means that citizens of both countries can travel and stay in each other’s territory for up to 90 days without visa in a calendar year. The agreement, which takes effect from 1 November, was announced in a press statement issued …

International airlines operating from the old Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport have been directed to relocate to the new Chinese-built Terminal 2. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) issued the order following the directive of the new Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo. Keyamo, during a visit to the Lagos airport had directed FAAN …

Widely regarded as ‘the Oscars of the aviation industry’, the World Airline Awards have been presented for the 24th time at the Paris Air Show, taking place from June 19 to 25 in the French capital. The annual global ranking of airlines, organised by Skytrax, is eagerly anticipated each year, even though three airlines – Qatar, Singapore and Emirates, have …

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has announced the launch of the first set of electric buses for the state’s mass transit scheme. He announced the development on his Instagram page on Sunday, as he shared pictures of the buses. Sanwo-Olu wrote: “I am excited to announce the first set of electric buses in the Lagos Mass Transit Master …

A dead man was discovered in the wheel well of a KLM flight KL588 that arrived at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, from Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday (17 April). The man is assumed to have climbed into the aircraft at the Lagos international airport. The incident which is not new has raised serious security concerns about how and when the man was …

Geneva, 3 April 2023 – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is launching “Focus Africa” to strengthen aviation’s contribution to Africa’s economic and social development and improve connectivity, safety and reliability for passengers and shippers. This initiative will align private and public stakeholders to deliver measurable progress in six areas. “Africa accounts for 18% of the global population, but just 2.1% …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association of world airlines, has warned the Nigerian government that difficulties encountered by foreign airlines in repatriating their revenue from the country could lead to a reduction of flights to Nigeria. The total amount of foreign airlines’ trapped funds in Nigeria has risen to $802m, according to the latest figure announced by …

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has announced that the proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air is to commence full operations before the end of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Sirika made the revelation at an aviation stakeholder’s forum in Abuja on Thursday. Responding to a question on when exactly Nigeria Air will commence operations, the minister said, “Before …

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has begun investigations into the alleged maltreatment of Nigeria-bound passengers by Lufthansa Airlines The agency said it had received a report of the alleged maltreatment of over 200 passengers on Flight LH566, which took off from Frankfurt and was destined for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos as a direct flight, but was diverted …

The International Tourism Bourse (ITB) Berlin is back as a physical event after a three-year absence caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It will hold from 8 to 12 March on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds ICC. In 2020 the ITB Berlin did not take place. And it took place entirely as virtual events in 2021 and 2022. ITB Berlin, the world’s …

Nigeria has relaxed the COVID-19 safety measures and travel advisory, including the suspension of all pre-departure, pre-boarding, and post-arrival PCR test requirements. Making the announcement on Monday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said the decision was based on the sustained reduction in COVID-19 infection/transmission internationally and …

The acting executive director of the pan-African health organisation, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Ahmed Ogwell, has complained that he was mistreated at passport control at the Frankfurt airport as if he wanted to stay in Europe illegally. He came to Germany to attend the 2022 World Health Summit, which opened in Berlin on Sunday …

Nigeria has announced that Ethiopian Airlines would be its major partner, with forty-nine percent share-holding, for the Nigeria Air project. The country’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja where he revealed that the national carrier was well on its way to being launched with three Boeing 737-800 that will shuttle between Abuja and Lagos. …

In a continuous effort to ensure the convenience and comfort of passengers, crews and airlines using Addis Ababa as a hub, Ethiopian Airlines Group has completed the first phase of its In-Terminal Hotel construction. The Hotel is physically connected to Addis Ababa Bole International Departure Terminal 02 with a short walking distance from departure gate and is managed by Ethiopian …

Lufthansa has again cancelled more than 1,000 flights due to the warning strike by its ground staff, affecting tens of thousands of passengers in the middle of the holiday season. The walkout will start at 3.45 a.m. on Wednesday and end at 6 a.m. on Thursday local time, the trade union Ver.di said in a statement on Monday. The industrial …

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), to allow Nigerians living in the diaspora to return to Nigeria with their expired passports. Aregbesola gave the directive on Wednesday in Lagos while responding to a complaint by a Nigerian-American citizen, Jamiu Kasumu, at the Alausa Passport Office in Ikeja, Lagos, during his unscheduled visit to …

Lufthansa is cancelling more flights as travel operators in Germany continue to be plagued by staff shortages. Around 2,000 connections at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs will be affected until the end of August, a company spokesman said in Frankfurt on Wednesday. This is already the third wave of flight cancellations by Lufthansa this summer. First, the airline cancelled a …

Lufthansa has cancelled more than 2,000 flights planned for the summer in a desperate attempt to avoid travel chaos due to bottlenecks at airports caused by staff shortages. In addition to the 900 cancellations in July, the airline will take a further 2,200 of a total of around 80,000 flights out of the system at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs …

Germany announced on 11 June that it had provisionally lifted all COVID-19 entry restrictions to the country. Travel from non-EU countries to Germany is now permitted for all purposes (including tourism and visits) and no proof of vaccination, recovery or testing is required any longer. “Visas as required for entry into Germany may be applied for with the German Consulate …