Headlines

BA stops selling short-haul flights out of Heathrow.

Published

2 years ago

August 2, 2022

British Airways has halted sales of tickets on short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport until 8 August as disruption to air travel continues.

The move is due to the cap on daily passenger numbers that the UK’s largest airport has imposed over the summer.

The sales suspension will affect BA’s flights to domestic and European destinations.

Thousands of air travelers have been hit by disruption in recent weeks, including last-minute cancellations.

Airports and airlines, which cut jobs during Covid lockdowns, have found it difficult to recruit enough staff as demand for holidays has returned.

Heathrow Airport has struggled to cope with the rebound in air travel and problems with its baggage handling systems have also led to passengers seeing huge delays in reclaiming their luggage.

Last month, Heathrow told airlines to stop selling summer tickets, as it said it would limit the number of passengers departing each day to 100,000 – 4,000 fewer than previously scheduled.

The cap on numbers is set to remain in place until 11 September.

As BA is the largest airline at Heathrow it is affected by the limit more than other carriers.

In a statement, BA said: “As a result of Heathrow’s request to limit new bookings, we’ve decided to take responsible action and limit the available fares on some Heathrow services to help maximize rebooking options for existing customers, given the restrictions imposed on us and the ongoing challenges facing the entire aviation industry.”

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of travel agent industry body Advantage Travel Partnership, told the BBC the move was “positive news” for consumers.

“The whole idea is that you allow space on flights for anybody that is on a flight that has been disrupted – it enables [BA] to scale up,” she said.

“In one sense it sounds quite counter-intuitive that an airline would be reducing seats at its peak period but it’s absolutely all about building resilience, making sure there’s less disruption, ensuring that those people that have booked… that there’ll be less risk to those flights being disrupted.”

Stopping selling some tickets from Britain’s biggest airport in the lucrative summer peak, when demand is strong, is not something you would normally expect an airline to be doing.

But this is not a normal summer.

The decision follows Heathrow’s extraordinary decision to limit traffic to a level the system can cope with, given ongoing resourcing challenges.

It is understood British Airways was close to reaching the number of passengers it could carry under that cap this week.

The decision is meant to prevent last-minute bookings. And it should leave some leeway in the system for where rebooking is needed.

This is not about cancellations – existing bookings are not affected.

But it will limit passengers’ last-minute options at a time when capacity has been squeezed and many prices have risen.

It is not clear yet whether more ticket suspensions could follow.

BA has cut nearly 30,000 flights from its April-to-October schedule in response to staffing problems.

On Friday, BA owner IAG reported its first profit since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, despite facing what it called a “challenging” environment at Heathrow Airport.

The company said the problems at Heathrow had forced British Airways to limit its capacity to 69.1% of pre-pandemic levels between April and June, and this was expected to increase to about 75% between July and October.

A row broke out last week between Ryanair and Heathrow after the airline said airports had not recruited enough staff to cater to the rebound in travelers, saying they “had one job to do”.

But Heathrow hit back at the criticism, describing it as “bizarre”.

“Airports don’t provide ground handling, that’s provided by the airlines themselves. So, this is like accusing us of not having enough pilots,” said Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

Virgin Atlantic also criticized the airport, claiming it was responsible for failures that were contributing to the chaos.

Emirates Airlines had initially rejected Heathrow’s request to cut flight capacity but later agreed to cap sales following talks between the two companies.

Last month the Competition and Markets Authority and Civil Aviation Authority issued a joint letter to carriers raising concerns that “consumers could experience significant harm unless airlines meet their obligations”.

The letter said there were concerns some airlines may not be doing everything they could to avoid harmful practices, including selling more tickets for flights than they could reasonably expect to supply.

Headlines

Commission, journalists partner to revamp water sector in Kaduna

Published

2 weeks ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

The Kaduna State Water Services Regulatory Commission (KADWREC) says it is partnering media practitioners towards revamping water services in the state.

Mr Dogara Bashir, the Executive Chairman of KADWREC, disclosed this on Monday at a one-day workshop organised for media practitioners on regulation of ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ (WASH) activities held in Kaduna.

Bashir said the commission was aware of the importance of the role media practitioners played in the society.

He stated that the workshop was to provide an avenue to liaise with them as important stakeholders on water supply and sanitation services in the state.

Bashir said: “As media practitioners, we believe you are a gateway to the citizens so, the workshop would acquaint you with some of the regulations already in place so that you can in turn transmit it to the public

“The state of water services in Kaduna State is in dire need of attention and the State Water Corporation and KADWREC were established towards addressing the seeming challenges.

“The commission is mandated to ensure better service delivery and regulation of water and sanitation services in the State.

“The idea is that once the regulations are developed, we send them to the State Ministry of Justice to gazette and then we get the state government to endorse and give the go ahead to commence the implementation of the regulations

“We intend to implement them fully come January, 2025 God willing, as we have embarked on advocacy activities having gone to zones 1 and 2 where we talked to traditional rulers, security agencies and the Judiciary.”

He disclosed that a special Court has already been attached to the commission by the Chief Judge of the State for service providers who may likely violate regulations.

The chairman further said that amongst the commission’s objectives include ensuring security, reliability and quality of service in the production and delivery of water to the consumers as well making regulations to control the sinking of boreholes.

Others included; maximising access to water services by promoting and facilitating consumer connections to distribution systems in urban and rural areas.

According to Bashir, they also include ensuring that regulatory decision-making has regards to all the relevant health, safety, environmental and social legislation applying to the water sector.

Bashir further said that the commission collaborate with the relevant state and federal agencies on water policies.

Crime

2 ladies docked for allegedly obtaining money by fraud

Published

2 weeks ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.

Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.

They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.

He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.

The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.

He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.

The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.

He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.

Headlines

Driver jailed 6 months for attempting to steal a car

Published

2 weeks ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 37-year-old driver, Ahmad Umar to six months in imprisonment for attempting to steal a car.

The Magistrate, Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Bokkos in his judgment, ordered the convict to pay an option of N30, 000 fine or spend six months in prison.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp Ibrahim Gokwat, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 10, at the Area Command Police station through a distress call by one Sydney Peacemorie the complainant.

Gokwat said the complainant parked his Toyota RAV4 in front of Access Bank and went inside to carry out some transactions, only to return to find the convict inside his car.

“The convict unlawfully opened the car and was in the driver’s seat when the complainant raised alarm and he was apprehended, but his accomplice escaped.

“The convict was severely beaten by a mob but was rescued by the police,” said Gokwat.

“The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the Plateau Penal Code Law.