Airk Airline, the largest domestic carrier, says it lost over N3.2 billion last year following bird strike on their plane engines.

Its chairman, Sir Joseph Arumeni-Ikhide explained that the airline had to spend over N3.2 billion to fix its aircraft attacked by birds and that the company experienced over 34 incidents of bird strike attacks on its aircraft.

According to him, the development could send small airlines out of business, while another operator, Dana Airline, said last week that it had lost N270 million to similar attack on its aircraft.

Dana managing director, Jacky Hathiramani, explained that the airline spent over N270 million to fix the damage incurred from the attack of birds on one of its aircraft, which was grounded for the three weeks by the attack.

He noted that incidents such as bird strike which can be prevented  are causing airline operators great loses and are potential risks to flights, but hoped that the authority in charge would take up the challenge as soon as possible and reduce, if not eliminate the incidents of bird strikes in the airports.

Meanwhile, an aviation expert, group captain John Obakpolor, has urged the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to take urgent measures to minimize the effects of bird strikes to aircraft, saying that domestic airlines are losing hundreds of millions of naira to the menace.

According to him, if something drastic is not done, the attack of birds on aircraft could lead to air mishap, adding that it is a standard practice of FAAN to compensate airlines for the loses they suffer on account of bird strike.

He noted that it is the responsibility of the airport authorities to put measures in place that would reduce that menace of birds at airports across the country.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has adopted the 16th update of the list of airlines banned in the European Union, which include all air carriers certified in Afghanistan and the Mauritania Airways.

The list of banned airlines last year included some carriers from Africa but no Nigerian carrier was banned from flying to the European airspace. The banned carriers were mainly from Congo, Sudan and other parts of central Africa.

Storeis By Shedie Okpara