VS sign agreement with Nigeria Airlines

Just seen this on a.net of course the old informed people at a.net have started making assumpitons straight away! Have a read I have put my thoughts below (sometimes i wish i paid to join a.net and put all those silly people to right) Btw nothing on VS website.

from http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpres ... p?ID=26060

Nigeria Chooses Virgin Atlantic As Partner For New Flag Carrier
AFP: 9/1/2004
ABUJA, Sept 1 (AFP) - The Nigerian government has chosen British airline Virgin Atlantic as its partner in the creation of a new national carrier, Aviation Minister Isa Yuguda told journalists on Wednesday.

"The equity of the company for now is 50 million dollars. The Nigerian investors are expected to pay 25.5 million dollars while Virgin Atlantic will put in 24.5 million dollars," he said, after the weekly cabinet meeting.

The new airline, which will replace the bankrupt Nigeria Airways, will be called Virgin Nigeria Airlines, he said. Nigerian investors will retain a controlling 51 percent stake, while Virgin will provide technical expertise.

Earlier this year Nigeria had appointed South African Airways as strategic investor in the project, but subsequent negotiations broke down and the offer was re-advertised, Yuguda said.

South African Airways renewed its interest when the bidding process reopened but was eventually beaten into second position by Virgin, which is owned by British tycoon Richard Branson.

The once mighty Nigeria Airways has been put into liquidation after decades of mismanagement and corruption, but the new flag carrier is expected to inherit its lucrative routes from Lagos to London and New York.

Flights from Europe to Lagos, the biggest city in Africa and a hub for the wealthy Gulf of Guinea oil industry, are among the most profitable in world air travel and invariably overbooked.

In addition to Virgin, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airlines and KLM are among the airlines working on the route.

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This is an interesting move by VS and am rather surprised none of our insiders at VS knew anything of it. Obviusly The airline will be established in its own right and it will be interesting to see if they take over the PHC and LOS routes! A.net are suggesting LHR, JFK, DXB, Berriut and CDG. I would imagine they will also look at JNB.

The a/c issue would be interesting- a.net are saying VS would use there 742's in the dessert but as we know they have major D Checks coming up. Wouldnt mind betting we see some of our A340's end up with VS Nigeria!

Anyone have any views/thoughts. Declan, Airchabum what do you guys think? Im wondering if this is 100% official though seeing as VS website has nothing on it.

What do you people all think? Give us your views/thoughts!

I'd heard VS were looking at helping to establish a new carrier (I think the nme Nigeria Eagle had been used) after SAA had pulled out/been sacked by Nigerian Gov etc. Perhaps their new relationship could involve SAA somehow.

Reuters http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=575232&section=financecalim that Virgin Group say nothing has been signed.

As with most things in Africa - I guess we'll have to wait and see
Alex

Some staffers knew, however it had a top secret marked with it, and to some extent it still does. All I will say is forget about the 742 and a343 making there way over there in the near future. I think until VS make an official announcement incorporating official start up details, most staffers in the know will keep tight lipped.

Not heard much about this at work, although as Daffy says it's all been very hush hush. Seeing as a 1 Oct start-up date has been rumoured I'm sure they'd have told us by now if we were to be actively involved in it. Instead I think it'll be more like Virgin Express/Blue which are run independently from VS.

I'm sure LOS-JFK would be a priority route as would London. I don't think VS would stop flying LOS-LHR..more likely that the 2 airlines will operate in tandem. I can't see the new airline using any current VS a/c...they're all flying their socks off at the moment and there won't be any spare ones for the forseeable future. Maybe some Air Atlanta involvement... [?]

Cheers
Alan

When do we think that A343's (i.e. arcadia & j2000) will start to leave the fleet?

With 1 x B744 leaving LHR for MAN in May 2004, and new routes at LHR (syd) in 2005 and LGW, I'm a bit confused as to what type of planes will fly where, and how VS will sort this out (only 2 x A346 to be delivered in the short term?)!!

does anyone know how this will pan out?

I dont think air atlanta will fall into the nigeria trap for a third time! Think baout it- they had all the problems of having a/c operating on behalf of VS to start with (delays, a/c going tech), the airport at lagos is shocking by all accounts. And secondly they then helped Nigeria out by providing a/c and then the airline went belly up not paying air atlanta what they owed.

Richard- Airchabum will be able to hep u out on this point but I believe that the SYD route will require 3 A346's on it. The routes to Havanna and Nassau will not be daily so that helps. A/c like XLG will be moving to LGW before next summer so i guess they will provide the cover needed. Airchabum---would u like to help me out on this one!

So we are now looking at a completly independant airline like Virgin Blue and Pacific Blue are of VS. But this will be a first as it will be the first time VS will go head to head with a 'sister' airline- they dont even do it with SQ at the moment. So will see VS axe LOS and PHC and let the Nigeria airline take over on codeshare with VS or what?

Hi Richard

Re the 343s leaving I'd say not before 2006 at the earliest. Even with the 2 new 346s arriving all the present capacity will be utilised (taking into account SYD + 2 744s moving to LGW and MAN for next summer) so I'd guess that some routes ex-LHR that are currently 744 will become 340 in the future. I don't want to go too OT so may start another thread on this later as it's a good subject to debate.

Hi Will

Yes there were a lot of problems when Air Atlanta were operating LHR-LOS for VS, mainly 1. LHR is not a base for them so they didn't keep many spares there, and 2. because of the late dep time and it being a noisy a/c the 742 fell foul of the LHR night jet ban on too many occasions resulting in night-stops and bail-outs.

I presume if they did get involved in the new airline they would want to guarantee payment from VS first. I think last year they were operating LOS-JFK but on a cash up front basis. I can't see VS dropping one of their most profitable routes although maybe it's a way of aquiring extra slots at LHR? I'd be happy if they took over PHC-LGW though as it's a waste of a/c utilisation at the moment (4 1/2 days to do 4x 6hr flights [V]) Hopefully there will be an official 'Virgin Nigeria' announcement soon....

Cheers
Alan

Further to the last, have just seen an announcement on the intranet at work. It goes into the reasons for doing it (large country with no national carrier etc) but doesn't give any insight into potential routes or aircraft types. There should be more announcements over the next few weeks.

Cheers
Alan

We did already have a thread that started on this subject in News Bites. This thread seems to cover it in more detail, so I've locked the old one - I'll be moving this thread over to News Bites where it's more suited

Cheers

Michael

LOS is VS most profitable routes so its very unlikely that they will drop this route.

K so if LOS is so profitable what are VS going to do. Say to the new airline that they run 'no sorry you cant operate LHR-LOS as we want that route'. After all the LHR-LOS route along with JFk-LOS will be the new airlines most popular routes. How about a codeshare? And what is with PHC? Bit of a random destination (i know the reasons, huge ex pat community due to oil and shell etc) but surely these flights arent full are they? Does the cargo pay for the empty planes if u c what i mean?

Hi Will

I'm assuming that VS and Virgin Nigeria will both operate LHR-LOS...is there any reason why they shouldn't? BA operate on routes with AA/QF/etc who they have an alliance with.

PHC flights are occasionally full although more often I would say load factor is about 60%. However yield is very good as there is no competition and therefore no discounting.

Cheers
Alan

well the reason why i said was b/c everyone goes on about how much VS will want to keep LHR-LOS b/c its successful. but also all the press go on about how the new nigerian airline will want to operate LHR-LOS as well- as its one of the only profitable routes the old airline operated etc. just cant seen nigerian govt letting VS have the contract for making VS NIgeria without making sure the new carrier operate to LHR. After all we all like to fly our national carrier!

Well guys it is confirmed virgin nigeria is going ahead, just found this website (some may have seen it) http://www.virginnigeria.com. The airline look to be operating 320's on regional/domestic routes as is shown by the a/c in the Virgin Nigeria livery! Looks like the carrier will operate along side VS on the LHR-LOS and LGW-PHC routes, wow that will be something to virgin branded airlines dominating 2 routes! Super! Anyway have a look and see what you think!