A’Ibom Airport Begins International Flights

The Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo, has commenced operating international flights with the airlifting of 200 Christian Pilgrims from Uyo to Israel.

Speaking at the airlifting ceremony in Uyo, Governor Godswill Akpabio praised the Chairman of the Airport Implementation Committee, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga and the security agencies for ensuring the success of the take-off.

In his speech, Mr. Gad Nyedu of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission advised the pilgrims not to undermine the essence of the spiritual exercise, just as the Managing Director and Chief  Executive Officer of Ibom Airport Development Company (IADC), Captain Jari Williams said 1000 pilgrims were scheduled to travel to Jerusalem in two weeks.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it is replacing the previous generation of the more expensive and less effective and efficient magnetic stripe boarding passes with 100 per cent worldwide implementation of two dimensional bar coded boarding passes (BCBP).

The magnetic stripe boarding passes are on their way to a history museum next to the paper ticket.

After electronic ticketing in 2008, the conversion to BCBP is the next important step to provide passengers with more convenience and choice.

IATA’s Director-General, Giovanni Bisignani said that completing many tasks during the journey will now take seconds with the stripe of a bar code, adding that the completion of the industry project gives passengers greater choice in checking-in at home, at a kiosk, on a mobile device or at an airport check-in counter.

It also allows airlines to issue a single, printed boarding pass for  multiple flights, simplifying the journey for passengers with flight connections or those traveling on different airlines, he said.

Airlines, Mr. Bisignani stated, issue over two billion boarding passes every year while the conversion to print two dimensional BCBP has been a five year project and will save the industry up to $1.5 billion every year.

He hinted that with more and more airlines offering the possibility to receive the bar code via a mobile devise, “we are well on the way to truly paperless travel”.