Oduah: FG Not Part of the Planned National Carrier

The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, has said the objective of the federal government is to totally revamp airport facilities, make air transport viable and profitable both to investors, the government as well as farmers-through the perishable cargo project. She also said President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had  ushered in a new culture of engagement in the partnership between government agencies and the private sector. She spoke with Kunle Aderinokun and Chinedu Eze in Beijing, during Jonathan’s recent state visit to China. Excerpts:

What are the benefits of this state visit to China to the Ministry of Aviation as the $500 million loan which the federal government secured from China Exim Bank that will be used to build the four international terminals will eventually be repaid?

The gains are numerous. Major among the gains will be the fact that the administration would have actualised a platform that channels passengers, investors to Nigeria because the new terminals will help us develop the needed capacity as more people would now like to travel from our country. It also means that the administration’s pivotal usage of aviation as catalyst for the economic growth of the nation would be realised in a much accelerated manner. Most important is the connectivity; the business that will grow from the capacity, using Chinese technology. The President Goodluck administration is to make Nigeria a regional hub, as the first step; regional hub for commerce, for training and for maintenance. All these we will accomplish in a very short time. So it is a very joyous time for us. It is a very, very exciting time for me in particular to be a Nigerian.

When the new National Policy on Aviation came out, there was a lot of protests, but now the protest has waned.  The question people keep on asking is: How is the director general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) going to marry the new policy and the civil aviation regulations?

NCAA is a regulator of all policies. NCAA is a government agency given the responsibility to manage air transport and it is independent when it comes to regulating the aviation sector. The new director general is not a new person in aviation and therefore has huge knowledge on both the regulatory and management aspects of aviation. So I don’t have any fear on how he is going to implement the new aviation policy and regulations guiding operations in the industry.

You also know that we have economic regulatory directorate as we also have safety regulatory directorate and both will have to work together for us to have ultimate save environment and that is what is required in aviation. But having said that, people who are generally apprehensive about how the new policy and the regulation will work to achieve a synergy in improving the aviation sector are merely being ignorant because when you have a policy that has been in existence for 13 years and more and you don’t review it then it absolutely makes no sense because the industry is dynamic. Things keep on evolving; things keep on changing, especially in the technology driven aviation sector and the laws and policies would be in tandem with these changes in order to meet the challenges that would confront the industry at any time. Otherwise the country will be operating in a vacuum and the challenges will continue to grow. The essence of reviewing the policy was because it was no longer sufficient to accommodate the new trends in the industry, so it became mandatory that we should change the policy.

Now, in changing the policy what did we do? We expanded the scope of the policy. We ensured that the policy was still in tandem with global best practices; that the policy will stand the test of time; it is sustainable and will enable us combat those challenges that may confront us at any time. Those that are agitating, no apologies, but I think they do so out of sheer ignorance. They need to read the policy to understand that it is for the safety of the industry.

At his maiden meeting with stakeholders, the new Director General of NCAA, Fola Akinkuotu, introduced the Directorate of General Aviation, which we believe is going to check excesses in the private sector and with that it seems you have backed down on the declaration of manifest by private jet operators. Do you just want to allow the sleeping dog  to lie?

No sleeping dog will be allowed to lie. That is not true. The manifest declaration is mandatory. We are not holding the passenger responsible; it is the operator because the operator is a professional and knows the policy; that you do not fly without declaring the manifest and you are doing so because it is a safety requirement. So the yardstick is to ensure that the operator is penalised for non-compliance. And if they do it repeatedly the operator will not be allowed to fly anymore. Again, no sleeping dog should be allowed to lie.

You promised that you are going to install runway lighting at the airports that do not have airfield lightings. Have you started the process?

We are procuring now. We are going to do the entire international and local airports. We are doing them in phases. This year alone we are going to award about seven and as I said earlier, we are going to have back-ups on back up. We are going have the conventional, we have the solar and inverter. So at any given time we will have electricity at the airport and what we want to also do is to work with IPPs at the Lagos airport. In the next 24 months, God willing, we are going to have IPP replacing the current electricity supply that we have now because the present one is really not efficient, in my view. It is a very, very expensive way to operate, so if we can have gas and have IPP that costs nothing, why not go for IPP that is far much more efficient. So all these we are putting in place.

Everybody loved what you did in Kano; that is the remodelling of the international terminal, including the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who unveiled it and praised the job done, but since that time criticisms from certain quarters have followed the project. What is your reaction to this turn of events?

I am going to try to act maturely in responding to that and I should say that politics should be taken away from national development; and the fact that this administration has been very, very fair in ensuring that development should be spread equally to every part of the country. Now, when we came in, the first remodelling projects we carried out were actually Kano and Kaduna hajj terminals, before we even started the commercial terminals. That is to show that for us, development is this administration’s priority; it is something that government should do for Nigerians and that is what government is doing. We do have a master plan and we are working in tandem with our master plan.

But it becomes frustrating when people put politics into development, and annoyingly so when it is done out of ignorance. For any operator to fly on any route, it must be commercially viable to that operator. That is one; two if the load factor does not encourage that route, nothing on earth will make them fly the route. That is the situation with Kano. We cannot force any airline to fly to Kano. We can encourage them but they must have passenger traffic that can encourage such operation. Therefore, we hope and will continue to encourage airlines, especially international airlines to fly to Kano. We have appealed to Emirates; we have appealed to Turkish Airlines and we hope that if the number (passengers) works for them, they will fly to the city. But we cannot force them to operate there.

The perishable cargo terminal that will encourage export of farm produce is a novel idea enunciated by this administration. What kind of support are you getting from both local and international bodies on that project?

The perishable cargo project is Federal Government project. If you recall, the President launched Fresh Produce Transformation Programme and the platform that will actualise that is perishable cargo terminal and government is constructing 13 of them and will later extend it to 16. The encouragement we are getting from international organisations is immense. The reason for this is because the available potential of that programme is huge. If you look at Kenyan, Ethiopian and South Africa economy such export contribute to their foreign exchange accruals. If you take Kenya alone and do multiplier effect of the country, which is about the size of, let’s say, Enugu state and let’s say you have Kenya’s economy spread over 13 states of Nigeria, government would have holistically bottomed up the growth of our economy. This means that domestic economy of the country at the rural level would have had independent access to international market. It means that our aunties, our cousins, our relations living in rural communities will have access to international market. We would have developed some rural economies that would be independent of allocations from the Federal Government and independent from oil resources.

It would be one of the greatest platforms for government to stop rural, urban migration. It will grow employment opportunity; it will have all the value chain properly ad completely developed. It will encourage the growth of new middle class. That will be great; we are looking forward to finally accomplishing that. Infrastructure in terms of the cargo terminals will be ready by the end of this year. That is unprecedented.

What is the budget for those 13 cargo terminals?

It is smaller than you think, really. We have these cargo terminals in different sizes; we have mega, we have medium and smaller ones. The average cost of a cargo terminal runs to N420million  to 860 million. For me that is really prudent.

Do you intend to get the governors involved because the farmers need enlightenment; they need to know about this lofty plan for them?
 

Government has set up inter-ministerial committee led by aviation because we are key players in the programme, in the sense that we are providing the infrastructure; the platform and so we are working with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water Resources, because water has to be available, we are also working with the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Agriculture will provide the seedling for the cooperatives. We are also working with the states. The states will have to make it work. We are working with the local government chairmen because they will also have to make it work; we are also working with the cooperative societies. We have our plan and part of the road plan will be for us to go to rural areas, local governments to sit down and discuss and tell them how they can benefit from this programme and how they can key into that. We also need mediators because you have to connect the farmers to international market. The carriers, the middle men, everybody will have to work together for the programme to benefit all of us. But I think everybody is excited to have it started.

Many Nigerians are happy about the airport facilities that have been remodelled. How many are you working on now and if you perceive that a contractor is not doing well or is slowing the job, what do you do?

We try to encourage the contractors not to embarrass themselves and because for us it is totally unacceptable. We had terminated contracts and given the jobs to other contractors when the jobs are not done well because there is really no room for non-performance. First, we want the job to be completed in time. Two, there is zero tolerance for inefficient job. We tell the contractors, this is not the normal government jobs you take and do at your pace.

We have timeframe and you must work in tandem with our timeframe. We are going to launch Owerri and Yola airports and Port Harcourt Phase 1 is ready so we hope to do that by the end of next month. Lagos expansion is also ready. We expanded Lagos and added about 20,000 square meters on both wings of the terminal, including the fingers. That we are also going to open by the end of next month. And thereafter we are going to do Calabar and Jos by the end of October. The second ones will be Markurdi, Sokoto; Sokoto is ready. We are going to do Sokoto end of next month. We are going to also do Ilorin. So we are going to be doing them serially. All these are ready and others are coming up.

I noticed you are expanding the fingers at the international terminal of the Lagos airport. What is the purpose?

To create sufficient capacity because we do not have the capacity; we want to create transit lounges. If we are going to be a hub those that are transiting should have a place to stay until they depart and it must be a highly sanitised environment. Also, airlines don’t have lounges so we are creating lounges for them. We also want to create space for the processing of passengers. You know when you are travelling the place is usually congested, especially summer time. We are regular travellers, we travel all the time but we do not have sufficient space and we are growing in double digit and we don’t have enough space. So in doing that we are trying to create retails so that passengers as they are travelling will be able to do their shopping and we get revenue from that. Above all, we want to create adequate space for passengers.

FAAN has been mired in controversy over concession agreements between it and AIC Limited, Maevis Limited and Bi Courtney Limited. What is your perception about these agreements and how do you intend to resolve these issues?

They were wrongly done; wrongly structured and actually structured to defraud and not to perform. That, for us, is not acceptable. I give you the AIC, for instance. The lease given to AIC Limited was not given as concession; it was given as an approval to construct hospitality facility. The transaction was done about 20 or so years ago. Now, nobody can collect, in any country that I know, a lease which you failed to develop for 20 years. Two, it was wrongly done. It is located in front of the apron. Security wise it is not done. I do not know on earth where you have hotel in front of the apron. What does that mean? It is not done; it is not security compliant. And so what FAAN is saying is that AIC cannot be allowed to develop that land because it is not safe. It is not safe for those that will be in the hotel; it is not safe for the aircraft; it is not safe for the nation, especially in view of the security challenges we are facing.

And so we will reallocate AIC a land where they can construct, if the company really want to construct; if the intention is not to collect the land and use it to get loans from banks because that is what many people do. They collect land with the intention that they are going to develop but what they do is that they use it to collect loans from banks. We don’t have that kind of leverage now. Land for us means infrastructure; land for us means revenue. If it is not utilised for that effect, then we shall have to reallocate it. Usually there are time frames: six months. If you do not commence the project in six months, you lose it to someone else who has the capacity to do so and this is clearly written. And so, for the fact that AIC did what they did, FAAN may not consider allocating another land to them. More so, the court gave the judgement to FAAN. The impunity of their action was embarrassing. And this is what FAAN and the aviation industry suffers all the time. It is executive impunity.

Where do you intend to site the new international terminal at the Lagos airport?
 

It will be built next to the existing international terminal.

Many Nigerians are sceptical about your programme to float a national carrier. Many believe that it will not succeed, looking at the past experience and others do not see how government can begin to acquire aircraft for airlines. Can you clear these doubts and explain how you intend to do it?

The business model we have is completely different from Nigeria Airways. It is a private sector driven initiative. What government is doing is to create enabling environment and ensure that all the potential investors have the assurance that this will work and also set the policy that will drive the project. We want to make the policy that will be sustainable; the policy that will guide the investors and the stakeholders. And how do we want to do this? Simply put: government is saying that for this to work, these are the rules. We are looking for equity investors, we are looking for core investor, and we are looking for technical investors. The core and the technical investors will work together to assume the initial equity holding. The remaining stock could now go to the stock market for Nigerians to subscribe so that any Nigeria that wants to buy will buy.

But what is important to us is that it must have everything that will make it a global airline. It will be an airline that will be managed efficiently, including its assets. For that to happen, we must set the rules ab initio. We have to carefully do this because the airline will be flying our flag; it will represent all of us. And because of the importance of a national carrier to the viability of air transport in any country, the potential and the growing market in air travel in Nigeria, we want Nigerians to subscribe and become part owners of the airline. This is why we are taking it to the market.

Also government wants Nigerians to benefit from the bilateral, commercial advantages that accrue to a national carrier. That is as far as government involvement goes. So government is not part of the national carrier project; government is not subscribing to national carrier and government has zero equity in the national carrier. So it has no semblance to the defunct Nigeria Airways.

When is it going to take off?

Very soon, but definitely this year will not go by without it taking off.
 

Now that this idea has come, does it reflect in the new Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) Nigeria signs with countries its airlines operate into the country, as some of these viable routes have to be ceded to the national carrier? Are you going to disengage some of these routes already given to airlines? If not, how do you intend to empower the national carrier?

It is very simple; through the law of bilateral. It is done by reciprocity so if we have national carrier automatically we shall partake in the routes. What we do administratively is to write to these countries and tell them that this is our national carrier and in view of the law of reciprocity it will be flying your route. So the routes the airline will be flying will be decided by its management. It will decide on the routes that are viable at the international level and write for the necessary approval.
 

What is your prediction of Nigeria’s air travel passenger movement by 2026?
 

I predict 40 million.

 

Source:Thisday 

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/oduah-fg-not-part-of-the-planned-national-carrier

FAAN reopens Benin airport, regrets closure

The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. George Uriesi
| credits: File copy 

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has expressed regrets over the activities that led to the closure of the Benin Airport by the Edo State Government on Tuesday.

A statement from the Edo State House quoted the Managing Director, FAAN, Mr. George Uriesi, as saying this when he visited Governor Adams Oshiomhole in Benin City on Wednesday.

He was quoted to have said, “We deeply regret the events of yesterday (Tuesday) and we will like to find out how we can avoid a situation like this arising in the future because it is neither in the interest of FAAN, nor in the interest of the Edo State Government for the airport to be closed down, as there was a lot of hardship and serious economic consequences arising from the shutdown.

“I want to assure your Excellency that FAAN is a good corporate citizen; I am convinced that there was a misunderstanding and I want to get to the bottom of this misunderstanding so that it does not happen again.

“If we have any obligations, we will meet them; and I hope that in the future, if there are issues of misunderstanding, we will be able to talk about them quickly without them leading to delays and inconveniences to the public.”

Uriesi added that the agency had the desire to remain a good corporate citizen and partner with the state government to deliver services to the people of Edo State.

In his response, Oshiomhole noted that the tax law was a federal law, which the state government was only trying to implement.

He said FAAN allegedly defaulted on the Pay As You Earn tax, which even the President and governors used to pay.

http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/faan-reopens-benin-airport-regrets-closure
Culled from Punch

FAAN, Edo Trade Accusations over Shutdown of Benin Airport

The administrative office of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) located in the Benin-City Airport, was Tuesday morning shut down by the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue (ESBIR), over alleged unremitted N15 million Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductible tax from staff salary for 2011.

It was gathered that the action led to the grounding of air operations and other services at the airport, thereby forcing the workers out of the airport for the failure of the agency to pay taxes, which were long overdue.

Consequently, hundreds of passengers, who were billed to travel to either Lagos or Abuja were locked out of the entrance and exit gates of the airport, while Arik Air passengers, who landed early in the morning were not allowed to go out through the gates of the airport.

THISDAY gathered that the airport was closed after Arik Air operated its early morning service by 7.30 a.m. and as the air traffic controllers landed the aircraft, thus grounding the Arik Air flight and passenger on the outboard back to Lagos; after those brought to Benin-City were disembarked.

Both Aero Contractors and Arik Air cancelled all flights to the airports together with charter operators until 3.p.m. when the airport was reopened and the Arik Air flight that was inadvertently grounded was allowed to fly back to Lagos with passengers.

THISDAY also learnt that both Aero and Arik might operate their evening fights to the airport but officials of the two airlines were sceptical that their aircraft might be impounded even after a seeming truce was reached between FAAN and the revenue body.
 

The closure and suspension of air control services from the airport may have affected air operations to the other airports adjacent to Benin City as pilots communicate to air traffic controllers en route to their final destinations in addition to over flyers on international routes.

The Chairman of the state BIR, Chief Oseni Elamah, told journalists that the action followed the failure of FAAN to remit N15 million tax deducted from workers’ salary for the year 2011.

“In the past, we had to use judicial means to get the money from them. This time, we served them notice but they failed to respond to it. We had to served them court notice to that effect, which they still did not respond to. Hence, we have to come and seal up their administrative office,” he said.

 Following this development, Elamah, who supervised the exercise, had the gates opened, saying it was the administrative office of FAAN that was locked, and not gates of the airport.

“It was a deliberate attempt to blackmail us. It was their office we sealed, and not the gates,” Elamah said.

The Benin City Airport Manager, Mr. Sunday Ayodele, could not be reached for comments as he was being whisked away by operatives.

THISDAY gathered that the Airport Manager was whisked away by security operatives because of his attack on the cameraman attached to BIR taskforce.

He was alleged to have smashed the camera used for filming the incident.

Reacting to the incident, the General Manager, Corporate Communications of FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, condemned the closure of the airport without notice and said the revenue board should have explored all avenues of communication to establish their message instead of carrying out such action, which could threaten the safety and security of the airport.

Dati said significant revenue had been lost by airlines, the airport authority as well as the airspace agency for many flights by domestic airlines in and out of the airport, as well as other over flyers of the airspace.

The FAAN general manager, who absolved the state government of any political motive in the issue, remarked that the matter could have been resolved amicably without disrupting operations at Benin Airport.

Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomohole had condemned the assault on Elamah by agents of FAAN.

The governor also frowned on the arrest of Elamah, on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, saying the police ought to protect the man trying to enforce the law and not the lawbreaker.

 He said the due process of law will be applied to pursue the matter and called for the release of Elamah.

According to the governor, “the Edo State government did not seal up the airport, the revenue board staff went there peacefully to do their job. The authority of the revenue board went to serve an ‘order’ on the administrative office of FAAN, it was done in a way to ensure that it does not affect the operations of the airport knowing that the airport is a public place and as much as we want to collect taxes due to government, we don’t want to inflict pains on travellers who are not a party to the issue of tax evasion.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/faan-edo-trade-accusations-over-shutdown-of-benin-airport

 Culled fromThisday

Authors: Chinedu Eze and Adibe Emenyonu

Arik Air, West and Central Africa's Largest Airline, Expands its International Fleet

Arik Air, West Africa and Central Africa's leading airline, has expanded its international fleet with the acquisition of the newA330-200 twin-engine aircraft. The new aircraft will service the airlines bilateral air services agreement (BASA) long haul routes, which includes London Heathrow, New York John F Kennedy and Johannesburg Oliver Tambo Airports.
The introduction of the Airbus A330-200 widebody aircraft to the Arik Air fleet, is the first of its kind to be added to the airline, and will increase the current fleet to 24 aircrafts, with a further 24 aircrafts on order.
"We continue to rise as the airline of choice for passengers traveling to West Africa from New York, and we are dedicated to the delivery of premium customer service and efficiency to our passengers. The expansion of our fleet with the acquisition of a new A330-200 twin engine aircraft, will enable us to provide our passengers with an even more robust service offering, and continue to retain our competitive edge", said Robert Brunner, VP, America's Arik Air.

Since launching in the US in 2009, Arik Air has enjoyed a rapid rise to success with travelers from the
tri-state area, and among members of the large African diaspora communities across the US. The airline remains dedicated to partnering and serving the US community by way of sponsorships and partnerships with a variety of organizations and events. These collaborations range from partnerships with professional and educational programs, beauty pageants, universities and concerts.

Arik Air recently was a sponsor of the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards held in Los Angeles. The airline worked closely with BET International to fly many of the international nominees from West Africa to the US. One of the nominees, the Nigerian artist Ice Prince, won the Best International Artist Award, and Arik Air is the official airline sponsor of the current Ice Prince 2013 US tour.
"As an airline we enjoy partnering directly with events and organizations that allow our customers to have direct contact with our brand and brand ambassadors. It is important to us that our customers know we are dedicated to them, and this includes facilitating and supporting them in many aspects of their lives", said Robert Brunner, VP, America's Arik Air.

In the upcoming months, Arik Air is involved in a number of collaboration with community organizations and events. Arik Air is the official airline sponsor of the upcoming US tour for Nigerian artist P Square. In addition the airline is partnering with the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) held in New York, the Nigerian Independence Day Parade held in New York, and the ACANA Africa Festival held in Philadelphia.
Arik Air was recently honored as Ambassadors of Good Will by the Governor of Arkansas, who appointed both the airlines Chairman, Sir Joseph Akinola Arumemi-Ikhide and Vice President America's, Robert Brunner official "Arkansas Travelers". Arkansas Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, also awarded them both with a key to the city of Little Rock.

About Arik Air
Arik Air is West and Central 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 23 state-of-the art regional, medium haul and long haul aircrafts including two Airbus A340-500 making the airline the first operator of this particular type of wide-bodied aircraft in Africa. The airline currently serves 20 destinations in Nigeria and flies to 11 international destinations including London Heathrow (UK) and New York JFK (USA). The airline operates a combined number of over 120 daily flights from its hubs, and has been Africa's fastest growing airline for the last two years. Website: www.arikair.com
http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/arik-air-west-central-africas132411064.html
Source:GLOBE NEWSWIRE
 

Arik Air sponsors Nigeria’s Centenary Celebration Pageant

By Lateef Lawal, Nigerian Commercial Aviation News

Arik Air, Nigeria and West Africa’s largest airline is to play a key role in Nigeria’s Centenary Celebrations as an Associate Sponsor of the Centenary Pageant.

The world class pageant is aimed at promoting the objectives of the 2014 Centenary celebrations marking the amalgamation of southern and northern Nigeria by Lord Lugard in 1914.

 An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday between Arik Air and AOE Events and Entertainment Limited, the company commissioned by The Federal Government of Nigeria to put together the Centenary Pageant.

Former Miss Nigeria, Chief Nike Oshinowo who is the Chief Executive/Creative Director AOE Events and Entertainment Limited disclosed at the signing ceremony that Arik Air will participate in all aspects of Nigeria’s Centenary Pageant as the Associate sponsor.

It is expected that the Nigeria Centenary Pageant Queen will serve as Arik Air’s Brand Ambassador for no less than five years while the airline will be involved in the nationwide castings, reality TV shows as well as post event mentions during the Queen’s reign.

The Centenary Pageant will be in three phases: casting and selection of contestants, camp and reality show, and the grand finale.


Arik Air Managing Director/Executive Vice President, Mr. Chris Ndulue elaborated on the Centenary Pageant sponsorship:

“Arik Air is honoured to be invited to play a key role in Nigeria’s Centenary celebrations. This partnership further underscores our commitment to the people of Nigeria to deliver new standards in aviation and promote that which is truly Nigerian.”

AOE Events’ Creative Director, Chief Nike Oshinowo said: “This unique window, Nigeria’s Centenary Pageant, affords Arik Air the opportunity of projecting its brand in this once in a lifetime competition. Nigeria’s Centenary Pageant would take place once every One Hundred Years. This makes the Centenary Queen the most sought after title in the history of pageants in Africa.”

A Determined Chairman, An Honest VP And A Game-Changing Airline: A Love Story

By Zandile Blay, Founder, AfricaStyleDaily.com; Former Fashion Editor, Paper Magazine


Perhaps, love's got nothing to do with it.


After all, with sky-high fuel costs, plummeting budgets and increasing bankruptcies, the global aviation industry is driven more by the bottom line and less by emotion. Yet when it comes to Nigeria, the bottom line seems bleaker still.

From 2002 to 2006, the country was plagued by a series of tragic plane crashes which took hundreds of lives and eroded consumers' ability to trust their domestic airlines. Global brands like Virgin have tried -- and failed -- to reverse this misfortune by partnering with the Nigerian government, as they did in September 2004 to launch a flag-carrying airline.

Minted Virgin Nigeria Airways, the partnership never quiet took off, and by September of 2009, it was over.

Stakeholders re-branded the airline as Nigerian Eagle Airlines, and upon buying majority ownership in 2010 Jimoh Ibrahim renamed it Air Nigeria.

New names didn't solve Air Nigeria's old problems, and the airline remained dogged by safety issues, culminating in its grounding in June 2012.

Yet these pale in comparison to Lagos-based Dana Air, the airline behind the tragic plane recently, which led to over 150 deaths. In such an environment there's no reason nor logic nor business plan that would move a sound investor to launch an airline in Nigeria.


Nothing really. Except for love.

It was was a love of country that inspired engineering magnate Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide to, as he tells it, "return Nigeria to its rightful place, as a leading aviation market." To that end Ikhide purchased two Bombardier CRJ aircraft in 2006 and hired staff to fly the popular route between Nigeria's old and new capitals, Lagos and Abuja. These were the first new planes to be flown in Nigeria in 20 years. Beyond being a point of pride for the upstart airline, it served a very practical purpose for Nigeria's domestic fliers who at the time numbered over six million. (Reports show that by 2011, that figure skyrocketed to 12 million.) In the years since, Arik Air's fortunes and presence have equally grown. In technology, they are leaders not just in Nigeria -- but on the world stage.

Their use of the prestigious monitoring service Lufthansa Technik AG, the leading independent provider of maintenance for aircraft, is a first not just for Nigeria but the African continent as a whole. That dedication to safety has served Arik well in their rapidly expanding roster of locations, which has far surpassed their inaugural route to include several cities in sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S. and England. It's also earned them back to back awards from Security Watch Africa as the Best Security & Safety airline in Nigeria from 2007 to 2009. The net result has been an aggressive growth in Arik's market share, which the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority confirms is at 58% and rising.

The rapid rate at which Sir Arumemi-Ikhide has accomplished the above is not lost on him

"What has been actualized has outstripped my vision for this airline," he says in our exclusive interview. "If someone told me on our inaugural flight day (29 October 2006), with one aircraft and one route and a handful of staff, that just over five years later we would have grown to a fleet of 23 aircraft, deployed on 44 routes with over 130 flights daily being run by a staff of over 2,500 worldwide I would not have believed it. That's not to say that was not my ambition, it is just the sheer pace of how it has grown that has been breathtaking."

The success has firm foundation in Ikhide's most impressive investment of all: his workforce. Arik Air has placed its onus on hiring and developing top notch pilots within the country. Key to this plan is grooming female captains, of which Arik currently has over a dozen. Despite its pro-Nigeria philosophy, the carrier also values a diverse staff and has employed several esteemed airline professional from Europe and the U.S. to develop the growing airline.

Chief among these is Bob Brunner, Arik Air's affable, honest and straight-shooting Vice President of Americas. With over 30 years experience at British Airways, where he started from the ground up and rose to executive ranks, Brunner is a seasoned vet in the industry. The native New Yorker he has a remarkable understanding and passion for the Nigerian market which serves him well in his task of building Arik's presence in the U.S, and specifically the New York market.
"Nigerians are proud of their heritage and our owners want the airline to be a point of national pride." says Brunner. "[We want] a business that shows Nigerians can run a global, service-oriented business which can successfully compete with the well-known airline brands. A business all Nigerians can be proud to look at and say 'That's my National Airline.'"

Such insight will be key in overcoming current challenges that dull Arik Air's competitive edge in the U.S market. These include developing programs and technologies that are standard to a New York audience such as online check-in, partnerships with international carriers and frequent flyer programs.

"We are very focused on constant improvement," asserts Brunner. "We know when we made the decision to fly to London, New York and Johannesburg we would be a five-year-old airline competing with companies with more than 50 years experience. We couldn't possibly have all the infrastructure developed that they had and thus all the same offerings. We are focused on those things that will have the most impact -- give the customers the most benefit. Even as we are today, Arik provides the best travel experience from JFK to Lagos of any airline. "

Brunner's sentiment may be subjective, but it proved truthful on my recent flights between New York and Lagos. From first class to the economy cabin, the craft was clean, modern and boasted a decor that lovingly paid homage to Nigerian culture.The Lagos-based crew was friendly and attentive as they graciously welcomed guests aboard. Mealtime was a cultural celebration with a menu that offered Western style dishes but highlighted Nigerian specialties like joloff and okra soup.

On both routes, the hundred-plus customers who packed the flight exuded greater to lesser degrees of joy over the experience. But whether reclining in Arik's luxe first class cabin, chatting over cocktails at the in-flight bar, or mingling in spacious economy seats, no one was indifferent. Superior service and a sense of cultural and national pride peppered the experience Arik created for these customers. It was something that was entirely lacking in subsequent flights I took on other national airlines like Air Nigeria and Aero Charter.

At the end of the flight as I observed sleepy-eyed, satisfied customers greet attendants good-bye and their final destination hello, one thing was clear about Arik Air: love may have everything to do with it after all.

Arik Air introduces new aircraft to its fleet

By Lateef Lawal, Nigerian Commercial Aviation News

Arik Air, Nigeria and West Africa’s leading commercial airline has increased its fleet to 24 aircraft with the introduction of an Airbus A330-200 twin-engine aircraft. This latest addition to the fleet marks the first of four A330 aircraft due to be delivered over the coming year.
The new A330 aircraft will compliment Arik Air’s long-haul wide body fleet, which currently consists of two A340-500 aircraft. Fitted to offer the very best in-flight comfort and style, the new additions are an environmentally-friendly product that will provide the highest degree of operational flexibility and passenger comfort. The A330s offer a two class configuration with 30 Premier Business Class seats and 187 Economy Class seats, compared to 36 Premier Business Class seats and 201 Economy Class seats in the A340 aircraft. Both aircraft types are fitted with the same on-board product, providing the latest in comfort and style and a consistent product experience across the long-haul fleet. This enables Arik Air the opportunity to upgrade the Lagos – Johannesburg route, replacing the existing B737-800 currently flying between the two cities, as well as to look at opportunities to develop new long-haul destinations, such as in China, UAE, Brazil or more cities in the US and Europe.
The Premier Business Class product is carefully tailored to meet the discerning business traveller’s needs. Passengers will have individual secluded booth areas that contain flat beds featuring an in-built massage system complete with a hand held 3.5” inch LCD screen unit controlling seat and lighting functions. The very latest in-flight entertainment can be enjoyed on a large 17 inch widescreen monitor installed on the front wall of the booth.
Those flying in Premier Business Class will also be able to enjoy Arik’s on-board bar and lounge facility. The ‘Kira’ bar area is situated in the centre of the cabin and has bar seats as well as a surrounding seating area for passengers to enjoy the complementary bar offering
The Economy cabin is designed for maximum comfort and style. Passengers will enjoy a 32-33 inch seat pitch in the spacious cabin and individual seat back 10.6 inch screens
All passengers will have access to an audio video on demand system, with a wide selection of Hollywood and Nollywood films. In addition, short programs and an audio library provide customers with the very best in-flight entertainment.
Arik will cater to all guests tastes by offering international cuisine and a complete Nigerian on-board experience, with a colloquial Nigerian meal service, offering a blend of traditional dishes such as hot pepper soup.
Commenting on the introduction of the A330s, Dr Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, Arik Air’s Group Chief Executive Officer said:
“We constantly review our fleet requirements to ensure the services we offer to our customers remain competitive and provide the highest quality. The introduction of the new aircraft highlights our commitment to providing our customers with the best product on our long-haul routes.
Arik Air is synonymous with offering a truly unique African experience, from the food to the in-flight products on offer. This, combined with our reputation for providing on-board service and hospitality which is second to none, is what differentiates us from the competition”.