Arik Air strengthens Dakar route with Cotonou, Accra connections

Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest airline has extended two of its existing routes as the airline continues its expansion programme for the regional West African services.

Starting March 10, 2014, Arik Air will add Cotonou to its daily route network by operating the Lagos-Dakar flight via Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin Republic. Similarly, Arik Air will from March 10 extend its daily Abuja-Accra service to Dakar.

The Lagos- Cotonou –Dakar route will operate daily with the outbound flight departing the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 7:15 pm (local time) and arrive at Cotonou International Airport at 7:45 pm (local time).

As a result of these developments, Arik Air will be the only carrier offering daily nonstop service to Dakar from Accra and Cotonou each respectively catering for the needs of both the business and leisure passenger market segments.

The two routes will be operated using the Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft configured to sit 10 Business Class and 64 Economy class passengers. These routes shall be upgraded to the larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft from the upcoming summer season onwards providing freight forwarders of an additional two tons of belly cargo space to facilitate import and export of commercial goods.

Commenting on the development, Chris Ndulue, Arik Air’s Managing Director and Executive Vice President, said: As the dominant commercial airline in West Africa, Arik Air is always seeking to strengthen its services in the region to give guests comfort and value for money. We will not shy away from providing greater choice and a convenient, accessible network to our valued customers in the West Coast of Africa.”

Arik Air is Nigeria and West Africa’s largest airline and operates mainly from two hubs at Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.

It operates a fleet of 26 state-of-the art regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft including Airbus A330-200 and A340-500 making the airline the first operator of the wide bodied aircraft in West Africa.

The airline currently serves 20 destinations across Nigeria as well as Accra (Ghana), Banjul (Gambia), Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Monrovia (Liberia), and Douala (Cameroon), Luanda (Angola), London Heathrow (UK), Johannesburg (South Africa) and New York JFK (USA).

Culled from Businessday