08 October 08

VIRGIN NIGERIA BEGINS FLIGHTS TO MONROVIA AND ENUGU

Lagos Nigeria, 8th October 2008: As part of its route network expansion plans, Nigeria’s Private Sector flag Carrier, Virgin Nigeria Airways, will this week begin flight operations to two new destinations; one regional and domestic route respectively. The new regional destination is Roberts International Airport, Monrovia, Liberia and the domestic route is the Enugu Airport in the coal city of Enugu.

“Our commitment has always been to build strong economic ties between Nigeria and other nations as we build a world class airline. Our vision is on course as we have expanded the frontiers of trade among several West African nations and Nigeria as well as linking same to our wide network of domestic and international routes”, said Conrad.

He further noted that with the delivery of the first of its embraer fleet, unveiled a few days ago by the Senate President, Virgin Nigeria is now better poised to serve its increasing customer base.

The introduction of these new routes will bring to 17 the number of destinations operated to by Virgin Nigeria. Virgin Nigeria currently flies from Lagos to Abuja, Sokoto, Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Calabar on its domestic flight service and from Lagos to Accra, Douala, Dakar, Libreville, Cotonou and Abidjan on the regional routes. London and Johannesburg are also international destinations serviced by Virgin Nigeria Airways

With new uniforms, new aircraft, and now new routes, the month of October has indeed ushered in the beginning of a refreshed Virgin Nigeria.



About Virgin Nigeria

Virgin Nigeria is Nigeria's private sector flag carrier, 51% owned by Nigerian institutional investors and 49% owned by Virgin Atlantic. The airline was formed in September 2004 when the Federal Government of Nigeria announced the selection of Virgin Atlantic Airways as the strategic investor and technical partner in this exciting project.

With the mission of being a World Class Airline from the heart of Africa, Virgin Nigeria, has steadily developed a global network that serves domestic, regional and international routes from its operational hub at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

With a focus on improving the customer’s experience, Virgin Nigeria is constantly developing innovative products for the convenience of its customers. Some of these innovations include the online booking and payment system. The online and booking payment system allows customers to book from anywhere in world, as well as make payments with either an Interswitch or Etranzact payment card for people in Nigeria and most international credit and debit cards for persons in London.

Virgin Nigeria’s customers traveling on the domestic service can also make use of the new ‘Carry On, Carry Off’ product called “COCO”. This product allows passengers traveling on the domestic service carrying cabin hand luggage which is over 6kg to hand these over to the attendants at the foot of the aircraft. These bags are specially tagged and collected by the passengers on arrival at the tarmac.

Virgin Nigeria just recently took delivery of its Embraer 190 aircraft that is equipped with individual In-Flight Entertainment system as part of its total fleet renewal. It will be recalled that Virgin Nigeria last year announced an order for 24 Embraer aircraft consisting of E170s and E190s jets. Virgin Nigeria is listed on the IOSA Directory following its successful completion of the intensive IATA Operational Safety Audit which now places it at par with the best airlines in the world having shown its commitment and demonstration to airline safety standards

Virgin Nigeria is the first Nigerian airline and first West African carrier to be listed on the IOSA Directory