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The flight, Boeing 737-800, took off from Nigeria’s oldest airport and the country’s commercial hub centre, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by 2. 45 pm (CAT), through Cotonou, Republic of Benin, to Abidjan. It was a 15minutes journey from Lagos to Cotonou and a one hour flight from Cotonou to Abidjan.
This new service will operate four times a week: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
On Mondays, the outbound flight will depart the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 2:45 pm (local time) and arrive at Cotonou International Airport at 3:00 pm (local time). The flight then leaves Cotonou at 4:00 pm (local time) and arrives at Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport, Abidjan at 5:00 pm (local time). The inbound flight departs Abidjan at 5:05 pm (local time) and arrives in Cotonou at 6:05 pm (local time). The flight thereafter leaves Cotonou at 6:10 pm (local time) and arrives in Lagos at 6:30 pm (local time).
Other days: Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, the outbound flight departs Lagos at 11:15 am (local time) and arrives in Cotonou at 11:30 am (local time). It will then leave Cotonou at 12:30 pm (local time) to arrive in Abidjan at 1:30 pm (local time). Inbound flight departs Abidjan at 1:35 pm (local time) and arrives in Cotonou at 2:35 pm (local time). The flight departs Cotonou at 4:40 pm (local time) to arrive in Lagos at 4:55 pm (local time).
Acording to the management of the airline, the new Lagos-Abidjan air service will be operated using Arik Air’s state-of-the-art Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft configured to carry 10 Business Class and 64 Economy class passengers.
The management said its reason for opening this route is because of the economic potentials citizens of these two countries stand to gain through this air link.
Its words: “Abidjan is a preferred destination for Nigerian businessmen and women. Arik Air’s foray into this commercial city will make life a lot easier for our guests who have been yearning for flight connection between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. This service will further underline Arik Air’s position as West Africa’s premier airline.”
Corroborating the management of Arik, the Nigerian Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire, Mrs. Ifeoma Akabogu-Chinwuba, who was at the Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport, Abidjan to welcome the inaugural flight to the country, said this service proviced by Arik Air, would indeed boost the bilatral relationship between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire in many ways including trade and business transactions.
Her words: “There are so many benefits the two countries can gain by this direct air link by Arik Air. For instance, there are over three million Nigerians living in Cote d’Ivoire and they all have families. There are indeed a lot of bilateral activities between the two countries, particularly, economic and commercial activities, mainly from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire.
Many Nigerians have made so much investment in Cote d’Ivoire. They have hotels, schools, banks like UBA, GTB and Diamond Bank. All are Nigerian-established banks. We also have churches owned by Nigerians, as well as oil and gas companies belonging to Nigerians.”
On the volume of trade between the two countries she stated: “The figure we have in 2011 is over CFA200 billion especially in crude oil transaction and refined oil products that are imported or exported by both countries.”
Mrs. Akabogu-Chinwuba who joined the same aircraft back to Lagos on that day commended Arik Air for providing this direct service to millions of Nigerians in Cote d’Ivoire who have been itching for such opportunity to transact their businesses as quickly as they can using a reliable airline belonging to Nigeria.
Earlier in his opening remarks before the aircrat departed MMIA, the deputy managing director (DMD) and senior vice president (operations) of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi gave some reasons why the company decided to venture in this service.
His words: “We have done a good study on the route and found out that there is a good market between Lagos and Abidjan. We also discover that there is potentiality of transit passengers that we will be going with to our long haul destinations via Lagos. This also will make Lagos a natural hub we are trying to build. Passengers going to Dubai, London or JFK can come to Lagos via Abidjan. We have seen it coming and we are going to capitalise on it.”
On why the aircraft will not be going through Lome, Togo as it was anticipated, he said: “Because of strategic reasons. Besides, we want to build Cotonue as another hub because Lome is being developed by one of our competitors and so we want to do the same thing with Cotonou.
Source: The Guardian
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