Air Nigeria is planning to buy two A330-200s and two 737 NGs to serve its expansion plans into Europe and America. The aircraft, which will increase the airline’s fleet from 11 to 15 aircraft, will be deployed on routes to the UK, Johannesburg, Dubai, Middle East, West and Central African countries.
Managing Director, Kinfe Kahssaye, said each aircraft will cost $70 million.
He said: “The year has been good not only for Air Nigeria, but for other domestic airlines. Last year, none of the airlines had a serious incident unlike in the past. We should give kudos to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that properly monitored the sector and ensured that the right things were done.
“Within the year under review, we entered into strategic alliance-code share with Delta Airlines and several interline agreements were signed. Before the turn-around, the airline had only five aircraft in its fleet, but today, we can conveniently boast of 11 aircraft in our fleet. Without operations in 2011, we can now say we are on the path of profitable growth.
“Where we want to go from here is to reposition the airline to be the leading player in West Africa, build competitive and strong global network based on the Lagos hub. Also, we want to build a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility and further build a competitive workforce.”
Air Nigeria to buy four aircraft
