Arik Air has ordered for 15 new aircraft from Boeing at the cost of $1.7 which will be manufactured and supplied to the airline between 2008 and 2010.
The managing director of the airline, Michael McTighe disclosed this yesterday during the ceremony after the inaugural flight of its new aircraft, Boeing 737-700 which it acquired recently and said that in addition to the two new aircraft it purchased two months ago it will purchase 10 Boeing 737-800 NG and Boeing B777-300 ER, which will make it a total of five B777 in its fleet.
During the ceremony, the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, explained that the airline would have started flying to Heathrow Airport in London if not for the delays by British authorities to grant slot to the airlines and added that soon the airline will begin operating the lucrative route, as talks are on between the federal government and British government on the issue.
Speaking at the ceremony which was held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the Arik Air managing director said, “We are delighted to have just flawn the first flight on our brand new Boeing B737-700NG fromLagos to Abuja, as we introduce two of these aircraft into service. The Boeing B737-&00 offers new standards of confort, safety, performance, economy and is environmentally friendly. Arik Air is delighted to announce the purchase of ten new Boeing B737-800NG. Arik Air is delighted to announce the purchase of additional Boeing B777-300ER making a total of B777.”He also said that there will be another B787-9, known as Dreamliner, “making a total of seven aircraft. Total value of the Boeing deal is USD 1, 7 billion.Mc Tighe explained that the aircraft they were purchasing were brand new, despite criticism from the industry that the airline normally bought used aircraft and painted them to look new."We have been criticized in the past for buying old aircraft and painting them asnew but that does not change the fact that the aircraft we buy are new aircraft, McTighe said.Representative of aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, Stuart Pennington, who made some remarks while signing the purchase order with Air Air said that the purchase of the aircraft was a worthy venture which would help improve the aviation sector in theNigeria. Dr. Demuren praised the airline for trying to meet up with the challenges of the growing aviation sector.According to him, after the unfortunate crashes in the country many Nigerians started clamouring for new aircraft, insisting that the old ones were unsafe.He noted that the federal government, in response to this clamour set up the reforms programme to enable airlines to renew their fleet.This effort, Demuren said, was supported by the Cape Town Convention which has been localized to enable airlines access funds from international credit institutions.Demuren said that now, because of Arik's initiative Boeing is partnering with the authrotiy on some basic projects that would lead to aviation growth in the country."Boeing is working with the NCAA on the recertification programme and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit for the country's corrective action plan and the American IASA category one certification", he said
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