Virgin Nigeria Airways

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Virgin Nigeria
IATA
VK		 ICAO
VGN		 Callsign
VIRGIN NIGERIA
Founded 2004
Hubs Murtala Mohammed International Airport
Frequent flyer program eagleflier
Fleet size 9 (10 on order)
Destinations 13
Headquarters Lagos, Nigeria
Key people CEO Conrad Clifford
Website: http://www.virginnigeria.com

Virgin Nigeria Airways Limited is an airline based in Ikeja in Lagos State, Nigeria and operates scheduled international, regional and domestic passenger services. Their hub is Murtala Mohammed International Airport (LOS) of the Lagos area. The airline is a replacement for defunct Nigeria Airways.

Contents

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 4,000 tons of freight within two years of operation. The airline has also received many 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]

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. 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 route.

Virgin Nigeria Airbus A330-200 waits for take off at London Gatwick Airport
Virgin Nigeria Airbus A330-200 waits for take off at London Gatwick Airport

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 U.S. -based Global Aero Logistic's fully owned subsidiary North American Airlines, permission to start direct scheduled flights from New York's JFK Airport to Lagos starting in late July. [5] North American Airlines, specializes in direct flights to Africa from the U.S.

On 2007-02-07 Virgin Nigeria and North American Airlines (prior to its acquisition), announced entering into an agreement to cooperate on several fronts. The first being an interline agreement. A codeshare between the two airlines, as well as North American's support of Virgin Nigeria's pending DOT application were also part of the agreement[6]

The Virgin Nigeria Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft as of July 2007:

Virgin Nigeria Airways Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers
(Business/Economy Class)		 Routes Notes
Embraer 170 (8 on order) 67 (7/60) Short haul
Domestic services		 To be delivered from 2008 - 2011[7]
Embraer 190 (2 on order) 96 (12/84) Short haul
Regional services		 6 options, 8 Purchase rights. To be delivered from 2008 - 2011[8]
Fokker F50 1 50 (0/50) Short haul
Domestic services		 Leased from Denim Air
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
Total number of aircraft 8
 Updated: 24th September 2007

By the end of the decade, the airline plans to have a fleet of 40 aircraft.

  1. ^ Virgin Nigeria wins 2006 Airline of the Year award., AllAfrica.com website, retrieved March 27, 2007
  2. ^ Virgin Nigeria nominated for 2006 African Airline of the year, Association of South African Travel Agents website, retrieved March 27, 2007
  3. ^ http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/virgin-nigeria-buys-bevy-of-embraer-regional-jets/?no_cache=1&cHash=221b1f7da9
  4. ^ Nigeria Direct 2 May 2007
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ North American Airlines & Virgin Nigeria Enter Strategic Relationship, North American Airlines website, retrieved February 19, 2007
  7. ^ Embraer Sells 10 E-Jets to Virgin Nigeria, Embraer website, retrieved November 12, 2007
  8. ^ Embraer Sells 10 E-Jets to Virgin Nigeria, Embraer website, retrieved November 12, 2007


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