Virgin Nigeria Airways:
Virgin Nigeria Airways Limited is an airline based in Ikeja in Lagos State, Nigeria and operates scheduled international, regional and domestic passenger services. Its hub is Murtala Mohammed International Airport (LOS) of the Lagos area. The airline is a replacement for defunct Nigeria Airways.
[edit] History
On 28 September 2004 the Nigerian government and Virgin Atlantic Airways signed an agreement to establish a new airline for Nigeria, to be called Virgin Nigeria Airways. Nigerian institutional investors own 51% of the company and Virgin Atlantic Airways owns 49%. The airline's inaugural flight was on 28 June 2005 from Lagos to London Heathrow using an Airbus A340-300 aircraft. Virgin Nigeria has since gone on to become one of Nigeria's largest airlines carrying its 1,000,000th passenger and 4,000th ton of freight within two years of operation. The airline has also received accolades including THISDAY Awards 2006 Airline of the year[1] and a nomination for 2006 African Airline of the year by ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents). [2] Virgin Nigeria has plans of making Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja its second hub where in addition to its Lagos hub Murtala Mohammed International Airport it will serve all countries in West Africa. [3]
The Nigerian government set a deadline of April 30, 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded, in an effort to ensure better services and safety. The airline satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalization and was re-registered for operation.[4]
On 19 August 2008, Virgin Atlantic announced that it was "in talks to sell it's 49 percent stake in Virgin Nigeria". It is also reviewing "whether it is appropriate that the Virgin brand should remain linked to Virgin Nigeria”.[5] The dispute arose after Virgin Nigeria's domestic operations were moved against its will by the Ministry of Transportation to Terminal 2. Virgin Nigeria had twice refused the directive to relocate its domestic operations from the international terminal citing the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding it signed with the previous (Olusegun Obasanjo) administration and pending appeal in a Lagos High court as reasons for not complying. As of August 2008, Virgin Nigeria reports that it is "temporarily" operating its domestic flights out of Terminal 2.
[edit] US flights
There are plans to launch scheduled flights from its Lagos hub to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. This would replace the original services of the defunct and liquidated Nigeria Airways. There has been an agreement for Virgin Nigeria to wet lease American aircraft in order to start flights to the US[citation needed]. This appears to be a breach of agreement from the US Government on a prior agreement that did not include that clause. Some have argued that the US wants to monopolize the US-Nigeria route by creating a unilateral contract that would enable only US flights to fly this route[citation needed].
On 22 December 2005 Virgin Nigeria made a new filing to the United States Department of Transportation for a foreign carrier permit, which points out that the degree of Virgin Atlantic ownership in Virgin Nigeria (49%) is not a barrier to granting such a permit. DoT Filing DoT Exemption Filing.
Virgin Nigeria plans to add Newark as its first American destination, followed by Washington, D.C., (to cater for political and NGO traffic), and Houston (catering for oil and medical industries-related traffic).
In the hopes of expediting the filing, on June 13, 2006 the Nigerian government gave US-based Global Aero Logistics' fully owned subsidiary North American Airlines permission to start direct scheduled flights from New York's JFK Airport to Lagos starting in late July. [6] North American Airlines specializes in direct flights to Africa from the U.S.
On 6 April 2008, Virgin Nigeria was granted an approval to fly to US cities.
[edit] Destinations
Map of Virgin Nigeria routes as of 1 November 200. [7]
- Gabon
- South Africa
- Benin
- Cameroon
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Ghana
- Liberia
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- United Kingdom
The Virgin Nigeria Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 3 September 2008) [2]:
Virgin Nigeria Airways Fleet
| Aircraft |
Total |
Passengers
(Business/Economy) |
Routes |
Notes |
| ATR 42-500 |
1 |
|
Short haul
Domestic services |
Leased from Interstate Airlines |
| Boeing 737-300 |
5 |
116 (16/100) |
Short and medium haul routes |
Leased from GECAS |
| Boeing 767-300 |
2 |
213 (25/188) |
Medium and long haul routes |
Leased from LatCharter |
| Embraer 170 |
(7 orders) |
67 (7/60) |
Short haul
Domestic services |
Entry into service: 2008
Deliveries: 2008-2011 |
| Embraer 190 |
1[8]
(2 orders)
(6 options)
|
96 (12/84) |
Short haul
Regional services |
Entry into service: 2008
Deliveries: 2008-2011
8 purchase rights |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Virgin Group |
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Latin America and the Caribbean regional office |
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Middle East and North Africa regional office |
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North America regional office |
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Russia and the CIS regional office |
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