26 August 2010

Air Nigeria takes delivery of 7^th aircraft …three more to join fleet soon.

Air Nigeria has taken delivery of another Boeing 737-300 aircraft to further consolidate and expand its dominance on the regional and domestic routes. With the delivery of the aircraft, Air Nigeria current fleet size of seven aircraft now consists of five young Boeing 737-300 and two state of the art Embraer E-190 aircraft.

The Boeing 737-300 aircraft marked 5N-VNJ arrived Lagos from Dublin Tuesday 24^th August, where it had been painted in the Airline’s livery as well as undergone comprehensive restoration in preparatory for its immediate entry into service which is expected to give Air Nigeria an edge in offering  seamless services and increased market share.

 While taking delivery of the aircraft in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Air Nigeria, Mr. Kinfe Kahssaye said that the turn around of the Airline has been progressing faster than anticipated and with the coming of the 7^th aircraft we are  now better poised to offer better on time performance  and schedule integrity.

Mr. Kahssaye further said: “We are progressively doubling our fleet size over the next few months and the route network is being rationalized for effective deployment of the fleet to service both existing and newly introduced routes”.

 “Our vision is to continually bring convenience to the doorsteps of our numerous customers by acquiring modern aircraft to open up access to every major city in Nigeria and connect same to our regional routes and beyond Africa”, said Mr. Kahssaye while also noting that Air Nigeria is expecting delivery of additional three aircraft to bring its fleet size to ten before the end of the year.

 Mr. Kahssaye further noted that with the expected deliveries of more aircraft, Air Nigeria is set to realize its short term vision of commencing flights to many more destinations cut across both domestic and in the West and Central African region as well as offering outstanding value to passengers.

 It will be noted that Air Nigeria just recently re-commenced flights to Benin City and Owerri on the domestic route while it also launched flights to Congo Brazzaville via Cotonou & Douala on the regional route.

 It will be noted that following the recent acquisition of the airline by Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, Air Nigeria has received a new lease of life, enabling it to embark on several turn-around initiatives to position it to effectively meet and exceed the expectations of the Nigerian, African and International travel market, as well as make full payments of debts owed to financial institutions. Recent expansions to new domestic and regional destinations, and increased flexibility of timing and frequency on existing routes is also owed to this new burst of life.

 From its operational base at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, Air Nigeria currently operates to Benin City, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Sokoto on the domestic routes while it also operates to Brazzaville, Accra, Douala, Dakar, Monrovia, Cotonou, Banjul, Libreville and Abidjan with further plans to extend services to additional West and Central African destinations, Europe, Asia, America and Latin America.