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. This is a replacement for defunct
Nigeria Airways .
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 Airways currently operates from the international terminal of and
Port Harcourt , regionally to
Accra ,
Dakar and
Douala , and long-haul flights to
Dubai ,
Johannesburg and
London (Gatwick). More domestic and international destinations are planned in line with its plans to develop its
Lagos hub.
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).
Other regional routes will eventually be launched to
Abidjan ,
Bamako ,
Brazzaville ,
Freetown ,
Libreville ,
Luanda and
Monrovia .
The airline is also exploring flights to
Bangkok ,
Beirut ,
Frankfurt and
Paris .
SOURCE:
The Virgin Nigeria Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Other aircraft on order: 2 A340-300 (next delivery expected during June 2006), 4 737-300s (to be leased from
GECAS , gradual deliveries with last aircraft expected by end of 2006)
By the end of 2006, Virgin Nigeria plans to have 11 aircraft. By the end of the decade, the airline plans to have a fleet of 40 aircraft.
