Virgin Nigeria Airways
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| Virgin Nigeria | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA VK | ICAO VGN |
Callsign VIRGIN NIGERIA |
| Founded | 2004 | <tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Murtala Mohammed International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>eagleflier</td></tr>|
| Fleet size | 9 | |
| Destinations | 11 | |
| Headquarters | Lagos, Nigeria | |
| Key people | CEO Conrad Clifford | |
| Website: http://www.virginnigeria.com | ||
Virgin Nigeria Airways is an airline based in Lagos, Nigeria and operates scheduled international, regional and domestic passenger services. Their hub is Murtala Mohammed International Airport (LOS) in Lagos. The airline is a replacement for defunct Nigeria Airways.
Contents |
[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.
[edit] Services
Virgin Nigeria Airways currently operates from the international terminal of Murtala Mohammed International Airport to the following destinations: within Nigeria to Abuja, Calabar, Kano, Port Harcourt and Sokoto, regionally to Accra, Dakar and Douala, and long-haul flights to Johannesburg and London (Gatwick). More domestic and international destinations are planned in line with its plans to develop its Lagos hub.
[edit] US flights
There are plans to launch scheduled flights from its Lagos hub to Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey in the New York City metropolitan area. This would replace the original services of the defunct and liquidated Nigeria Airways. However, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has denied the airline a permit for a direct Nigeria-U.S. service. The basis for this denial is a dispute over the degree of British ownership in Virgin Nigeria. The U.S. accuses the United Kingdom, and Virgin Atlantic Airways which holds a 49% stake in Virgin Nigeria, of blocking efforts to liberalize the North Atlantic market to American carriers and has retaliated by denying this permit. In turn, the government of Nigeria has denied Continental Airlines a permit for direct U.S.-Nigeria flights. Negotiations are pending to resolve this situation and reopen this lucrative route.
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 DC, (to cater for political and NGO traffic), and Houston (catering for oil industry-related traffic).
In the hopes of expediting the filing, on June 13, 2006 the Nigerian government gave North American Airlines, a charter company specializing in direct flights to Africa from the US, permission to start direct scheduled flights from New York's JFK Airport to Lagos starting in late July. [1]
[edit] Further expansion
Other regional routes will eventually be launched to Abidjan, Bamako, Brazzaville, Calabar, Enugu, Freetown, Libreville, Luanda, Maiduguri, Enugu, Monrovia and Yola.
[edit] Fleet
The Virgin Nigeria Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2006) <ref>Flight International, 3-9 October 2006</ref> :
- 2 Airbus A340-300 (leased from Virgin Atlantic Airways)
- 7 Boeing 737-300 (leased from GECAS)
Other aircraft on order: 2 A340-300 (next delivery expected during June 2006). 2 Boeing 737-800s are planned for introduction starting early 2007. By the end of the decade, the airline plans to have a fleet of 40 aircraft.
[edit] Destinations
[edit] Africa
[edit] Europe
[edit] Umrah/Hajj 2006
Service to Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport} will be for the ferrying of pilgrims to/from Mecca. Points of departure are Lagos, Kano, and Abuja.
[edit] External links
- Virgin Nigeria Airways
- virginbrand.com Unofficial blog of the Virgin Group
[edit] References
<references/>
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