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Nigeria cherry-picks airlines

Nigeria has granted daily traffic rights to British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Turkish Airlines, while continuing to ban other European carriers over reciprocal visa issues.

From October 2, British Airways and Turkish Airlines, along with Ethiopian Airlines, RwandAir, ASKY Airlines, and Air Côte d'Ivoire have approval to operate daily flights to Lagos and Abuja, according to the latest flight schedule update from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Africa World Airlines has approval to operate twice-daily flights to Lagos and daily ones to Abuja; while Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Kenya Airways may now fly daily to Lagos, according to the approval signed by NCAA Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Captain Musa Nuhu.

Meanwhile, the West African country continues to blacklist Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines over travel restrictions imposed on Nigerian tourist visa holders by the European Union. This despite a meeting between Nigeria’s Aviation Ministry and EU ministers last month when...

KLM mulls early retirement of A330 fleet

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) is discussing the early retirement of its A330 aircraft, Luchtvaartnieuws has reported. With the coronavirus pandemic crippling demand for air travel, an existing plan to retire the widebodies in 2025 may soon change.

KLM does not yet have a specific plan to phase out the Airbus A330s early, but it is reportedly talking about it with lessors.

Out of its total fleet of 164 aircraft, the Dutch flag carrier operates five A330-300s, all of which are currently active, and eight A330-200s, six of which are operational, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. The -200s have an average age of 13.8 years, the -300s 7.9 years.

All five A330-300s are leased, as are two of the eight A330-200s. KLM leases one of each type from Air Lease Corporation, the other -200 from TrueNoord, and one each of the other -300s from CDB Aviation, Infinity Transportation, Nomura Babcock & Brown, and Yamasa Sangyo.

KLM CEO Pieter Elbers...