Arik Air begins maiden flight to London
Written by Kenneth Ehigiator
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Arik Air began its maiden flight to London from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, yesterday in its new Airbus A340-500 aircraft, with a promise to compete favourably with existing carriers on the Lagos-London Heathrow route.
At present, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Njigeria Airways and Bellview Airlines are the carriers currently operating direct flight service on the route.
The flight, after the necessary airport formalities, took off exactly 12:37pm, after taxing away for take off at noon and was expected to land at Heathrow Terminal 2 at 5:30pm.
Check-in for the maiden flight, flight W3001, had flagged off at 8:00am and terminated 90 minutes before departure to ensure that guests had sufficient time for immigration and Customs formalities as well as screening.
Vanguard gathered that the flight was filled to capacity, as a corporate body had bought off all the Business Class seats.
On board, Arik Air is offering a spacious layout on the new A340-500 aircraft in an enhanced 36 fully lie-flat ‘seat bed’ in their Business First cabin (Premier cabin), and 201 seats in Economy Class, offering more comfort and legroom than any airline on this route.
Other new features on board the aircraft included in-seat massager and a bar and lounge area for Premier passengers to socialize and relax, mood lighting, audio and video on demand IFE in both cabins and large personal monitor screens.
It also offers extra wide Premier seats and 50% more leg room in the Economy cabin, gourmet cuisine and a mix of Nigerian and International cabin crew added to a host of other comforts and luxury offered in the cabin.
Airk Air’s General Manager Sales & Marketing, Suraj Sundaram, said the airline was offering flexible ticket fares which would enable its international passengers from different parts of the country connect the Lagos-London flight without paying extra to get to Lagos from their places of residence.
He said: “As a reward to our valued guests, Arik Air is offering flexible ticket fares which will enable those travelling on Arik Air from our other hubs, Abuja and Port Harcourt, to fly free to Lagos to connect our Lagos -London flight.
“In essence, this is a saving of approximately $300, since they will only be paying the Lagos to London fare. For guests travelling from other parts of the country, we are offering lower fares to Lagos, substantially discounted from our standard fares as an added incentive.
“We believe that our guests deserve better value if they are travelling international on Arik Air and we are best suited to offer this through our network of 18 airports in the region.”
Arik Air was designated to fly London and Atlanta, U.S. route by the Federal Government about two years ago, but the airline management announced recently that it would add New York to its route network because of the large volume of Nigerians resident in the city.
Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Mike McTighe, had told newsmen shortly before it took delivery of the first of three Airbus A340-500 planes that it would serve Nigerian and inter-continental menu on board its flight.
He also said passengers aboard the flight would have access to live Cable News Network (CNN) as well as DSTV sports braodcast.