Virgin Nigeria, Ghana Airways/International Airlines, The Story?

[DidItMyWay]

Anyone know the story with Virgin Nigeria and Ghana Airways (or International Airlines, as the new backers call them)... are these projects serious or just smoke and mirrors?

[419]

The story with Virgin, is that they have been named as the new National carrier for Nigeria. See the following for details.

Virgin/Nigeria (http://allafrica.com/stories/200409020694.html)

419

[DidItMyWay]

Press stories are great but we have yet to see actual confirmation from the Virgin Group. :confused:

[Skylion]

Virgin involvement as a major partner in new Nigerian international carrier designed to be the national " flag carrier" looks correct. Bets on success welcome. Many have been there before including BOAC, BA, Swissair, SAA and none have yet come away without shaking their heads in disbelief and wondering what happened to visions of wealth. Ghana appears to have new US backer with wealthy religious connections, but similarly they will be another in a long line of optimists. For both to succeed they will need 100% unequivocal political support with no feet extended to trip them up,- or people asking for inducements not to trip them up. In neither case will this be easy and in Nigeria there is also the small problem of the thousands of former Nogeria Airways staff who see themselves as entitled to a job with any successor to their former employer.

[DEOne]

I just found this article intriguing, and thought that some here might enjoy reading it.
_____

QUOTE:

Aviation, Civil Society Groups Condemn Role of NCAA in New National Carrier

Kenneth Ehigiator
Lagos

A COALITION of aviation and civil society groups has condemned the role being played by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in establishment of the country's new national carrier, Virgin Nigeria.

The group is particularly peeved at the NCAA's claim that Virgin Nigeria had applied for Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) when there is no proof that the company had been registered by the corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

_____

The full story is on the allAfrica website here (http://allafrica.com/stories/200409130739.html).

[fourplay]

Virgin Nigeria is born
Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to start a new airline in partnership with the Nigerian government. Virgin Atlantic will invest about $24.5 million and own a 49 percent interest in Virgin Nigeria. Nigerian investors will hold the majority stake. The airline will be based at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the southern city of Lagos. Tickets for the first flights to the capital, Abuja, will go on sale in early 2005. Virgin Nigeria plans to offer flights to the U.S. and Europe, as well as domestic services and flights to African destinations including Dakar, Ghana.

see pic A320
www.justplanes.com

[TimS]

This is the latest on Ghana Airways (deceased) ......

Ghana Airways: Going, Going ......
... Assets To Be Converted Into Equity
... New airline would not take over Ghana Airways
... Fate of 1,165 staff in Limbo
The government is to value and convert the assets of Ghana Airways into equity as its share in a new company due to the winding-up of the nation’s distressed airline.

The new company yet to be named, will not take over Ghana Airways but operate it as a new and different entity.

The government, will have 70 per cent shares in the new company with the remaining 30 per cent shares going to Ghana International Airline (GIA). Over the last few months, the government had been engaged in a partnership deal with GIA, a US based consortium, to partner it in the formation of a new airline.

According to a government source, the fate of the staff of Ghana Airways will depend on whether the new company will like to engage them. The source said as part of the official winding up process of Ghana Airways, the government was engaging the services of an independent valuer to value the airlines assets.

The source said the government was following due process and consequences in winding-up the airline and gave the assurance that due process would be followed in the eventual termination of the appointment of the 1,165 staff of the company. The source said a debt committee had been formed by the government to access the actual debt portfolio of Ghana Airways to enable the government to reschedule the debt as a step to winding the company up.

The source who was emphatic that, the new airline would not take over Ghana Airways but would be a different entity on its own, adding that the faith of the staff of Ghana Airways would depend on whether the new company would want to engage the services of Ghana Airways staff.

The source added that the government would follow provisions made in the collective bargaining agreement signed between the staff and the company in the termination processes. The action of the government, the source explained, was backed by company code 1963 ACT 179 and the Official Liquidation Act, 1963 Act 180.

According to the source, a Shareholders Agreement was yet to be signed by both parties, and that the new airline would be operational before the end of this month.

The source added that the airline would be managed by a five-member board of directors of which the government would appoint three members.

The source said an Initial Management Team of four managers would be appointed by GIA to effectively manage the affairs of the airline. The source went further to state that as part of provisions outlined in the agreement, in the case of any eventualities, the agreement between the two partners would be governed by and construde in accordance with laws of Ghana as to all matters including validity, construction and enforcements “provided, however, that the conflict of laws rule shall not apply”.

As to whether the new airline will fly the national flag and use the name Ghana Airways, the source was positive about the flag but said the company would have to have a new identity from the old airline. The source added that the new airline would also fly all the routes that the old airline was flying including its sub-regional routes.

In a related development, two members of GIA who would form part of the initial management team of the new airline arrived in the country yesterday. The two, Messrs Ralph Atkins, Board Member and retired Chairman of Skywest Airlines, and Albert Vitale, Vice-President of World Transport Group, all in Utah, as part of their visit would secure an Airline Carrier License (ACL) and an Airline Operations Certificate (AOC) for the new airline.

They would also formally, present their business proposal plans on October 31, to government which would be discussed extensively. The outcome of the discussion would inform the commencement of actual business for the company. The start of business would then lead to the gradual winding-up of Ghana Airways.

......... with credit to Ghanaweb

[oneeyed]

Virgin Nigeria ???
Let's wait and see if it takes of or whether Sir Richard will have to abort. Until it finally flies anything can happen.
As far as the well informed sources are concerned their worry is who is going to invest $ 25.5 mio into a company that doesn't exist - or has it been registered today - I wouldn't know. Government is adamant that not a penny of their money is to be spent and it has to come from private investors. Based on that R.B. announced that he will bring his own share (49%) when the 51% are paid up - smart cookie isn't he.
So knowing Nigeria, as long as it doesn't fly, it doesn't exist. As the people here say - anything can happen. :(

[SortieIII]

Virgin Nigeria

I love the name...............

As for the rest, 'ons wag in spanning'.

[fourplay]

Anyone know anything or anyone regarding tech and cabin crew recruitment?

Like how/who to apply to?

Feel applying to VS would be a waste of time. :} :} :}

[Gunship]

Virgin Nigeria

I love the name...............

As for the rest, 'ons wag in spanning'.

Ohhhh luvllyyyyy .... :ok:

Well the airline is less than 12 years old so it might still be a virgin in Nigeria ;)

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

I reckon the Virgin Nigeria idea will happen. Richie won't commit any spondulies without serious safeguards, and there are a lot of Nigerian cabin crew on the existing UK-Nigeria Virgin Atlantic routes already, so he has a head start in the back at least.

[Rani]

Virgin Nigeria has appointed a CEO by the name of Simon Harford, a British citizen with previous experience at British Airways and GO, its defunct low-cost carrier. He has been in charge of e-business, strategy development and performance evaluation (source: google search)


From Business Day Online:

Virgin Nigeria gets chief executive officer
2004-10-22 08:17:21
By: John Osadolor
As part of the preparations to get the new flag carrier, Virgin Nigeria, airborne, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has been appointed for the airline. He is Simon Harford, a Briton.

Until his appointment as the start-up chief executive officer of Virgin which is scheduled to start operation early 2005, Harford was an aviation consultant in Europe.

He was also at the British Airways as a top management staff and had been involved in midwifing two airlines in Europe. He was a co-founder of GO, the low fare, no-price airline in Europe.
Harford who held an interactive section with a journalists in Lagos Thursday, said Virgin Nigeria is set to recruit its staff, adding that majority of the airline’s staff would be recruited before it starts operation.

This, according to him, is to enable the new staff imbibe the corporate culture of Virgin Group which is based on excellence, commitment, adventure and global standard.

Harford said the airline has gone far with preparations to start operation, but would not give details. According to him, Virgin would fly everywhere Nigerians would want to travel to, adding: “the customers will decide where we will fly to from the insight we have about the needs of our customers; we will fly domestic, regional, continental and intercontinental routes.”

The Federal Government had on September 28, signed a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding (MEMU) with Virgin Atlantic Airways to establish and operate a flag carrier for Nigeria.
Richard Branson, the flamboyant British billionaire and head of the Virgin Group signed on behalf of the airline, while Isa Yuguda, Aviation Minister, signed on behalf of the Federal Government.
Nigerian institutional investors are expected to own 51 per cent equity in the airline, while Virgin Atlantic Airways owns 49 per cent.
---

[fourplay]

Rani, Good one!

Thanks for that post.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

One is not holding one's breath........


TAB? AWA? Sound familiar, anyone?

[fourplay]

Yes Solid,

Go ahead, p:mad:ss in my parade :p :p :p

I would like to see this work, Hello...Jobs!
If Branson is involved I am sure it will.
I would say it's all systems go. ;)

[fourplay]

Website address, Straight from an e-mail received today from management.

Job vacancies coming soon!

www.virginnigeria.com

[Rani]

Hi,

Yes this website has been made public on September 28 when the Virgin/Nigeria announcement was made.

Did you contact Virgin management to enquire about the jobs? Their website hasnt been updated since last month and I wonder if their job vacancies will be announced within a week.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

fourplay

I sympathise, mate. Gotta hope it works out for Ricky and friends but knowing the MO of the people he's dealing with I'm not too optimistic.......:(

[ColdFiltered]

"the customers will decide where we will fly to..." I assume, from Rani's post, that Virgin will be doing the Haj trips as well! Mr. Branson, what are you getting into?

[obiukwu]

I don't quite understand why everyone is getting worked up over this.
This reminds me of a lot of the comments made here:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3440&highlight=virgin+nigeria

and look how well VS is doing there. In fact the route is doing so well, that this Christmas there are going to be extra VS services from LGW to LOS.

Of course RB can't predict the future, but you bet he has a lot of good people working on the project.

[WOD-DET-DVR]

When will Virgin Nigeria start flying?I heard they were starting the operation with A-320's. Where are the crews and the aircraft coming from. It seems to have gone a bit quiet since the original press release.

[latinaviation]

They are recruiting, see this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150884) post.

[Gunship]

1165 Ghana Scareways workers ... I shake my head in disbelief ...

[oneeyed]

Ghana Scareways
1165 Ghana Scareways workers ... I shake my head in disbelief ...
____________________________________________________

Call them Staff Guns, otherwise someone could really believe that they are actually working:ooh:

[Gunship]

Yip Staf you can call them. Here in SL they go to "work" every day. The boss still drives around in his newish Toyota Prado with no aircraft coming (or going) :p :p :p

We might call it ... in anticpation (or constipation) ;)

[oneeyed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Branson rides to rescue of Nigerian airline
Christian Allen Purefoy, Chronicle Foreign Service

Friday, November 26, 2004

Lagos, Nigeria -- Packed into a makeshift corrugated hangar, the lifeless, grimy planes and equipment from Nigeria's defunct flag carrier, Nigeria Airways, lie in tribute to the corrupt system that ultimately stole everything from it.

To fill the void, British billionaire Richard Branson and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo plan a new start -- Virgin Nigeria.

Despite the promise of foreign investment and a functional airline, many Nigerians resent the choice of Virgin as well as the corruption that brought down Nigeria Airways in May 2003.

On Sept. 28, Virgin's Branson met with Obasanjo and signed a memorandum of nutual understanding.

It formally established Virgin Atlantic Ltd. as a technical partner in the nation's new flagship carrier, holding 49 percent of the shares. The other 51 percent is held by Nigerian institutional investors via a private placement process that will start soon.

As yet Virgin has no license from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, but perhaps Virgin is right to be cautious. A report on Nigeria Airways by Nigerian justice Obiora Nwazota discovered that more than $400 million in hard currency and 300 million naira ($2.15 million) had been embezzled from Nigeria Airways.

Employing more than 27 executive chiefs since its inception in 1958 and coping with excessive government interference meant that the national carrier was forced to cannibalize its own planes to keep flights in the air.

Total initial investment in Virgin Nigeria is expected to be about $50 million, with about $24.5 million coming from Virgin Atlantic. Opponents argue that $50 million is barely enough for even one Boeing 737, which retails for between $33 million and $37 million.

Putting almost 50 percent of the shares in the hands of a foreign company is also seen as something of a disgrace to many Nigerians.

They're particularly vocal about the use of Virgin's corporate name alongside the country's name -- further removing the notion of a national carrier.

"They are deceiving themselves," said Razak Saidu, general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Nigeria's airline workers union. "It is a private line, not a national carrier."

Many are angry that a company already operating in the country was allowed into the process. They accuse Virgin of using the opportunity to hold the flight paths available to a national carrier.

"It is morally bankrupt for the airline to have applied in the first place," said Capt. Dele Ore, aviation consultant and former director of operations of Nigeria Airways.

Former workers from Nigeria Airways, through their union, are threatening to prevent Virgin Nigeria from leaving the runway unless the government pays them their pensions and two years of salary in arrears.

"We will frustrate any efforts by Virgin Nigeria to take off," Saidu said.

About 1,200 workers and 3,600 pensioners are demanding the more than $68 million they claim they are owed.

The International Transport Workers Federation has written to both Obasanjo and Branson about the situation of the workers and the liquidated Nigeria Airways.

In response, Virgin Nigeria spokesman Dotun Adekanmbi said, "We are truly sympathetic to their plight, but, really, it is not a Virgin Nigeria issue per se."

Nonetheless, if the new airline flies under a national imprint, corruption and responsibility are issues it will have to face every time it lands in Lagos.

Before Virgin, the nation of South Africa, though its Nigerian Eagle Airlines carrier, was initially set up as a technical partner with Nigeria. Nigerian Eagle Airlines appointed advisers and consultants to develop the airline, but this deal fell through for unknown reasons. Branson said that "Within just a few years, Virgin Nigeria expects to be directly employing several thousand people in Nigeria and creating a further 20,000 new jobs indirectly via its suppliers, partners and activities at Lagos Airport."

In a country where everyone has a horror story about local flights -- being thrown to the floor by turbulence, for example, -- many welcome the entry of an internationally respected airline.

The government is desperate to attract such investment to support its National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, which is "anchored on the private sector as the engine of growth."

The administration is seeking to expand Nigerian industry separate from oil. With high-profile companies like Virgin investing in Nigeria, the government hopes others will follow.

However, the privatization of public services, such as transportation, power and communications -- a policy pushed by the International Monetary Fund -- is seen by many Nigerians as the government's failure to meet its social responsibilities.

Virgin already operates airlines in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand. It plans to expand not just to Nigeria but to India and the United States as well. Virgin USA, its planned discount carrier, will be partially based at San Francisco International Airport.

Virgin is not the only foreign airline to be financially involved with an African national carrier. KLM Royal Dutch and Air France-KLM hold 26 percent of Kenya Airways, whose profit rose to $18.4 million in September.

However, the irony of a British entrepreneur commissioning the Nigerian national airline on Oct. 1, Nigeria's Independence Day, was not lost on the Nigerian public, with one newspaper column proclaiming, "Bravo! The British are back!"

However, as Virgin spokesman Adekanmbi stressed, "Virgin Nigeria is not a foreign company. It is a private sector-driven Nigerian company," and stock ownership will be open to Nigerian investors through an initial public offering on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A successful flag carrier would be the perfect opportunity for Obasanjo to extol his attempts at greater economic transparency to woo more international investment


as it has all been said I guess the future is lookiing brighter now???? :D

[Rani]

Gentlemen,

Virgin Nigeria has initiated its recruitment program. No mention to pilots !?, current vacancies include:

- Head of HR
- HR Advisor
- Senior PA to CEO/Head of HR
- Chief Operating Officer
- Training Standards Manager
- Director of Engineering
- Safety/Security/Quality Manager
- Director Flight Operations
- Chief Pilot
- Cabin Crew Manager
- Inflight Services Manager
- Cabin Crew
- Airport Managers (LOS, ABV, PHC, West Africa Outstations Relief)
- Ramp Officer (LOS, ABV, PHC, West Africa Outstations)
-Duty Managers
- Airport Supervisors
- Financial Controller
- Accountant (qualified)
- Accounts Payable/Receivable Clerk
- Accounts Assistant
- Revenue Account Supervisor
- Revenue Accounts Clerk
- Internal Audit/Controls
- Procurement Manager
- Procurement Assistant
- Head of IT
- Manager Operations & Commercial Systems
- IT Support Analyst (Help Desk)
- Manager IT Architecture
- Web Master
- Receptionist Head of Sales and Distribution Channels
- Head of Marketing and Product
- PR & Marketing Assistant
- Customer Relations Assistant
- Head of Network & Revenue Management Planning
- Route Network Analyst
- RM & Pricing AnalystCommercial Director
- Sales and Marketing Managers (Airport, City, Outstations)
- Ticketing and Reservations (Airport, City, Outstations)
- Account Managers (Airport, City, Outstations)

More information for applying is found on:

http://www.virginnigeria.com/jobs.html

[AlternativeProcedure]

Rani,

Things seem to be on a roll here, hopefully with this airline taking off, that should suck up alot of the experienced guys from the local airlines which should leave alot of job openings for the newly qualified gang. Oh and what do u reckon the chances are of a newly qualified pilot getting into V/N, afterall, they are gonna be doing regional/local routes right???.

Regards AP

[Rani]

AlternativeProcedure,

I am not aware of the channels available for pilots to apply. I suspect Virgin Nigeria may have opted for other recruitment agencies (not the two consultants). Perhaps you can give Virgin Nigeria a call or send them an e-mail.

Thanks,

[oneeyed]

Virgin Nigeria now hiring ???

Hope they havn't issued to many employment letters yet !!!

As the rumour mongers in the Ministry will have it, even the HMA has realized that it's a no go and his frantic efforts to have BA as substitute didn't yield any result at all - smart ones these BA guys they leve it to Sir R. to get disvirgined :ouch:

[Rani]

oneeyed,

Why would the government or Virgin pull out of this private sector-driven initiative? I doubt the latest US DOT ban on Virgin Nigeria saga has any significant bearing on start up preparation.

Sir Richard Branson is not a virgin anyways and he won't give up as there arent any major hurdles just yet.

The rumours of the HMA flirting with BA is puzzling and I doubt any truth behind it.