Vk,is The Dream Alive?

[AVSEC]

Is the VK dream going wrong?VK management pls take note and sort it out.We require you to succeed so that real competition exists within Africa.Good luck guys,WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT.


VIRGIN NIGERIA AIRWAYS

http://www.airlinequality.com/images/exc_3.gif (http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/3star.htm) a 3 Star airline

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http://www.airlinequality.com/images/orng-rt.gifhttp://www.airlinequality.com/images/orng-rt.gif Virgin Nigeria Star Ranking (http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/VK.htm)



Virgin Nigeria - by Dmitry Gorodenskiy
3 December 2006

Maybe they had improved service, who knows. I was flying Abuja-Lagos and encountered no problems except inefficient check-in staff. The flight was on time, luggage collected 10 minutes after arrival, meal (sandwiches) were fresh, aircraft - good looking 737.

Virgin Nigeria - by Christopher Price
21 November 2006

Abuja to Lagos, on an old Boeing 737. Not especially comfortable seats in economy, and no IFE of any sort - not even a magazine - but the flight is only one hour, so not too much of a problem. Complementary snacks offered, namely a pretty limited choice of sandwiches or a couple of small cakes. Take the cakes. Check in was slightly chaotic, but on reaching Lagos it emerged that our bags were on the next flight and we'd have to wait for two hours for them to arrive! Pretty appalling. However, when in Nigeria, you have to accept such problems, it seems, and be thankful for what you have (ie. a safe landing). Business class looked significantly more spacious, so would be a good option if possible.

Virgin Nigeria - by Olateju Fagbeja
13 September 2006

Abuja to Lagos. It was their last flight to Lagos on that day (21:10 hrs). As required, I was at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport an hour before the time scheduled for take-off to check in and wait for the flight. At the time when it was expected that passengers would board (20 mins to departure), the plane had not even arrived. One would have thought that it was the usual excusable delays which would not last for more than 5-10 mins but to my disbelief (and of course, most other passengers') the aircraft did not arrive till 22:00 hours when we were finally called to start checking in. The most unfortunate part of it all was that during all this period there was not even one announcement from Virgin Nigeria to acknowledge the delay and the discomfort inflicted on their customers! After boarding I was still waiting for the cabin crew to render an apology for this delay but none came, not before, during nor after the flight. It was utterly provoking. No thanks to Virgin Nigeria, the airline that is proud not to serve.

Virgin Nigeria - by Graham Martins
6 March 2006

Virgin Nigeria is a disgrace to the Virgin name. I flew them from Lagos to Abuja and back recently and was hoping for the typically fun Virgin experience. Reality couldn't be further from the truth. The aircraft is a clapped out old Bulgarian plane with Eastern European pilots and Cyrillic alphabet on the safety cards and signage. My seat kept involuntarily reclining and the crew's solution to this was to inform me to simply lean forward for the entire flight. Hardly confidence inspiring. The service on board consists of room temperature soft drinks poured into cardboard coffee cups served with stale sandwiches. This airline appears to be more "Nigeria" than "Virgin" unfortunately. I will be sticking with Aerocontractors for my domestic flying on the next trip to Nigeria.

Virgin Nigeria- by Gideon Etireri
15 January 2006

I was travelling to Luanda From Nigeria. Prior to this trip I had always taken South African airways. But I wanted to at least encourage the Virgin Nigeria service. I was wrong at that decision. My ticket was booked from UK by my company travel agent. When I arrived Virgin Nigeria desk in Lagos to collect my ticket, They gave me a boarding pass instead. The Attendant said I could pick my boarding pass for my return journey from Jo'burg. Surprisingly, the Virgin Nigeria staff at the boarding gate refuse to board me requesting I present a ticket. I explained that it was an e-ticket and I thought I did not require any other ticket. It took the intervention of one of their manager who was travelling on that flight before I could board the flight to J'burg. On arrival at Jo'burg; there was no Virgin Nigeria staff or any person to give me transit service with respect to my luggage. It took the help of Immigration officers in Jo'burg before I could get my luggage and board another flight to to Luanda. My return journey was worst than ever. When I arrived Jo'burg from Luanda, I did not see any Virgin Nigeria transit agent. Although, SAA helped me with my transit luggage. Virgin Nigeria was not available to give me a boarding pass at the transit desk. After spending several hours waiting for the Virgin flight to arrive from Lagos, I managed to speak with the boarding agent of Virgin Nigeria, who requested me to come out of the transit area before he can board me. I hold a transit visa for South Africa and the immigration will never allow me to come out of the transit area. I tried my best but to no avail. Later, the agent called that he cannot even board me because my ticket was not valid for the trip. I told him it was my return journey, but she would not burge. Virgin Nigeria left me behind in Jo'burg. I had to buy another ticket with SAA for $1000 - one way ,to be able to fly back to Nigeria. This was the worst treatment I have ever had from a Nigerian carrier. Even the days of Nigerian airways was not like this. Knowing fully well that I am a Nigeria going home on holidays; and had used a leg of this ticket. I expect the airline to carry me. But this was not the case. I have decided nedver to fly Virgin Nigeria, as they do not know thier own. SAA will always have my patronage. I need service better than Virgin Nigeria. If Virgin continue like this they will lose all their potential frequent flyers. I am sure they have lost mine already.

Virgin Nigeria- by Kerim Hann
11 December 2005
I was in Ghana and needed to travel Kenya. Since Kenya Airways doesnt fly every day, I had to find an alternate route. So my only chance was Ghana-Nigeria-Cameroon with Virgin Nigeria and than catch Kenya Airways from there. When I heard this option I was delighted since Virgin group can not be bad. Indeed airport check in was excellent, everything was same as Virgin Atlantic. My dream ended when I saw cabin staff talking in Russian, poor english - and an old aircraft hired from Balkan Airways (BH). Even safety leeflets in Russian from BH. Outside was Virgin, but inside nothing to do with it. Although seats are comfortable and big leg space in business class, recline bottons were disfunctional. What was worse that in business class, I could smell heavy smoke - hostess told me not to worry, it was pilots who smoked. I will not advise anyone to take Virgin Nigeria - unless you wwan to be in old planes, served by Russian staff and smoking pilots who ignore regulations. If this is Virgin brand, I dont want to take it anywhere and anymore.

[surely not]

The problem with believing everything written on these 'passenger' sites is that you don't know what angle the postees are coming from. It has been proven in the past that there are comments posted that are compltely fictional and posted purely to mislead.

It is also true that passengers do not always understand/appreciate the complexity of the problems that affect them. My father averaged over a 10 years period of travelling as a passenger a flight every 10 days which isn't too shabby. Coupled with his interest in aviation I was surprised when I started working in aviation at just how little he actually knew of airline and airport operations. He would make sweeping comments along the lines of 'all they have to do is...........' without knowing/considering the knock on effects of his ideas many of which were completely unworkable in the real world

AVSEC at times you display the same naivity with regards to airline and airport operations, and maybe instead of presenting a cut and paste of untested opinions as fact, from a website that mainly attracts whingers, you should learn more about the subject matter.

No airline is able to operate perfectly 100% of the time, and whilst staff can be identified for poor customer service and encouraged to do better, it is a sad fact of modern day travel that passengers are more likely to react abusively to those who are employed to help them. Read the cabin crew forum and you will be amazed at some of the tales of passenger behaviour.

I have travelled on VK, Aero, Bellview, ADC, EAS, Spaceworld and IRS and my personal experience was that VK and Aero were much the better timekeepers and for on board service VK, Aero and IRS were by far the best in that order. These 3airlines also had the best aircraft interiors, whilst the others were tatty and in the case of Spaceworld had more speedtape holding the lockers and trim together than I have ever seen on any aircraft!

The aircraft types experienced were A320, A340 and 733 for VK, Dash 8 for Aero, B732 for the rest. The Information flow for delays was poor from all airlines, but again VK and Aero were better than the rest.

Security was highest with VK and the x-ray screening of hold bags unique to them whilst I was in Nigeria.

The abilty to book flights in advance on the internet and pay by credit card was also a big step ahead by VK. Check-in before queueing on the ramp was only carried out by VK and Aero, with the others you were left to queue on the ramp and if at the end of a long queue you hoped that you had a seat!

If VK has problems, and it will do I'm sure, then I politely suggest that they are likely to be lesser problems than on most of their competitors services.

[Revnetwork]

Well done SN!!
Sometimes, I just don't get this "copy and paste" thing. It would have been great to "copy and paste" reviews for ALL the airlines in Nigeria (if they even featured) on this whingers website. AVSEC, take note!!!
I also note that someone was whinging about no IFE -on a 55min flight????

[LongJohnThomas]

I wonder why you all bother.
I think ignoring avsec would be the best thing from now on, he has an uncanny knack for controversy!
Sn, whats good?
:ok:

[Rani]

With all my due respect to the VK team, I don't see a reason why we can't admit the truth. Although VK is light years ahead of most "2nd rate" Nigerian airlines today :ok: , it still is a mediocre product :bored: . No functional frequent flyer program. Lousy punctuality (LGW flight arrived 4 hours late yesterday) and this is becoming consistent. No inflight magazine. No dedicated lounges. To add icing on the cake: The incoming 767s have no PTVS. This will surely make me avoid VK. However I agree with Revnetwork, these so called "passenger" reviews might be nothing but competitor diatribe. But this doesnt change the fact that VK needs serious cash and a new sense of commitment to its original objective of becoming a "global airline" to get out of its current reputation amongs passengers, especially on the long-haul routes.
In fairness, VK is operating in an extremely harsh environment (harmattan, fuel scarcity, runway closures, VIP traffic, etc. etc.) but still the best airlines out there don't simply give excuses, they sort out problems instead. For example, have VK's lobbying activities been sufficient?

[Revnetwork]

Rani,
I hear all you say and agree with most of it. BTW the LOS-LON flight yesterday arrived late because LGW was closed when the flight came. (heavy snow). The flight then diverted to LHR before making it in later. No excuses on that one!
Punctuality is getting better and I can say that 99.6% of Longhaul flights have been on time during 2007 and 92% of the shorthaul.(That's departing within 15mins of STD). Not bad considering the local factors.
On the lobbying front, well I was with certain "senior" figures in the Nigerian Aviation establishment (ministry, NCAA, Presidency etc) just yesterday, and one of them was waxing happily about how "they" had gone back on ALL the agreements signed between the government and VK in the MOU. BTW I wasn't representing VK at the meeting, just as a member of a certain committee set up by the Minister of Aviation.
Who will be ready to invest cash in such an environment when the agreements can simply be ignored??

[Flying Touareg]

AVSEC, RANI, dont mind SN . RVN, LJT.

They all have or had benefitted from VK.

The reality is that VK has a long way to go. Please go to the airport and sample all pax opinion.The main problem VK has is bad customer service, and inefficient/mediocre communications management.VK can rarely get a pass mark:hmm: . i bet you on that:ok:

[surely not]

Hey Flying Taureg whilst the Rev and myself might enjoy or have enjoyed an association with Virgin Nigeria that doesn't mean that we are prohibited from responding back to flawed accounts on here. As far as I know LJT hasn't had any association with VK yet.

Weather is weather and VK cannot be held responsible for that!! Rani mentioned that the VK was 4hrs late as a demonstration of how poor VK is, and Rev clarified the reason which was outside VK's control.

The figures for punctuality by VK look pretty good to me. There is no fudge on these, they are to IATA standards of reporting. With the exception of Aero I doubt very much if any of the other Nigerian carriers come anywhere close. The only time in my flights with other Nigerian carriers that we departed within 15 minutes of STD was with ADC ex Yola on their first flight of the day. However as the aircraft had arrived very late the previous evening I am fairly certain that the crew hours had to be fudged in some way for minimum rest requirements to have been met.

Sure VK has found it tougher going than in its original business plan, and it has come up against discrimination against it from the likes of Boris the Shady during his spell in office. It has encountered unrealistic US protectionism that has prevented the start of the USA routes, and then been stabbed in the back by Boris and his boys with the designation of other airlines on routes to the US whiuch goes against the MOU with the Nigerian Govt. Shifting sands do not help anyone.

If the OTP figures given by Revnetwork could be better publicised then maybe some of the public perceptions can be corrected. The check-in area is a much more pleasant experience than the old Domestic Terminal ever was.

What news on the New Domestic Terminal?

[GlobalFlyer]

Has Virgin Nigeria taken any legal steps to counter the government's decision to grant international routes rights to those destinations previously designated exclusively for VK?

Having heard some aviation officials were recently laughing in private about how they managed to 'back stab' VK, it would seem the government has openly and unappologetically breached its agreement with the airline. We havn't heard any official and convincing response from the ministry of aviation as to how its actions do not constitute a breach of agreement.

It is also hard to believe the exclusivity agreement was intentionally made to be vague in not clarifying whether VK was exclusively designated on the New York route or the JFK route, there is a clear difference. Same goes for 'London route' or 'Heathrow route'. VK could not have been legally incompetent in not having addressed any vagueness in the signed agreement.

Cheers

[GlobalFlyer]

Interesting to note, Virgin Nigeria has launched a new web format. Looks more professional and is a step in the right direction.:ok: Still lacking some solid content (such as what benefits do Eagleflier members enjoy? fleet info, photos of the actual onboard experiene, etc) but I guess this can be filled into the new format soon.
http://www.virginnigeria.com

[bdwa]

Its amazing reading some of the threads here. It's blow my mind some of the thoughts and opinions here. Where do I Start.

A lot of these airlines should be given an award for the conditions under which they operate. Incompetent Government, An Aviation minister who knows nothing about aviation and staff top down who have no clue right from left. The problem with the aviaton industry is not limited to that sector alone. It covers the entire fabric of our society. First and foremost, we lack Managers/Administrators period. If we did, WT will still be here. Secondly guys, its 2007, we have no constant power supply, no roads, no water, no infranstructure to talk about. In fact, nothing works except maybe Telecom and banking which was largely due to the private sector. Having said that, how then can you have a a successful aviation industry.

I get pissed off when you have airlines trying to do the right thing and been made to work under conditions which are sometimes almost impossible. We are a culture that reacts. Its only when something goes bad that we try to fix it.

Men, I could go on, but you guys know where i am going with this. I got a couple of Q's. I got the answers, but what are your thoughts.

1. At MMIA, what are all those guys with badges just standing around doing in the departure and arrival halls.? talk about waist of man power.

2. How long does it take to fix a fence and a Runway. (P.H. airport)

3. We get 60nm radar coverage and we celebrate. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. ITS 2007.

4. how do you fire a manager at FAAN and hire him 2 days later. Why did you fire him in the first place and who made that decison.

5. BA has one flight to LON a day, sometimes 2. Have you seen how chaotic it is checking in. Why.

6. You arrive from an Int. flight at night. The parking lot is a dark, scarry and a mess. Try driving through oshodi bridge. What would be peoples first impression driving from the airport to Island.

My point is that the airlines and other companies operate under very harsh conditions in Nigeria. Until my government and my people change our mentality, I am sorry, more of the same.

[18left]

HEY VK
people are looking up to you guys with a complex mix of jealousy,hope for vk to suceed or fail depending on whos involved.
This is not so bad!
why?
if bellview chachangi et al delay for five hours,it wont make this forum
if vk delays for just 5mins its allover this forum and the airport!
if vk f##$^ks up its all over this forum
if others mess up its expected,so no big deal
That vk is could high expectations,because people are tired of flying substandard airlines .
high expectations will continiously motivate you,dont let it frustrate you.
I had a friend who was recently housed in a hotel by vk after his flight was cancelled,and even though pissed,was plesantly suprised,as no airline had ever offered this form of compensation to him,
KEEP IT UP

[TomBola]

bdwa,
Well said :ok: . You've summed up and voiced what so many of us in Nigeria think of our aviation sector. Maybe you should be doing Fani Kayode's job (somebody else should :E ). Let's at last have the right environment for good quality, safe, reliable air transport in Nigeria. We are the largest country in Africa (in terms of population) and the richest, so why is our aviation sector such a world disgrace? We have many extremely good people and competent pilots, as shown by the fact that many of those who leave do well overseas. On my own sector, the helicopter side, look at Jide Adebayo, now managing director of CHC Africa, overseeing helicopter operations in at least 6 countries, or Akin Oni, recently promoted by Bristow to be in charge of the newly-created Northern North Sea operations. What we lack here is good leadership in the government sector of aviation. With that, Nigerian entrepreneurial skills, and investment in the sector rather than using it to get money out of the country, Nigeria could fulfil the role which it should do, as the leader in all fields of African aviation. Right now, with a few sparkling exceptions, our industry is a national and continental disgrace :{

[oyinbo]

VK's dreams is alive and maturing, a year and a half is only a few seconds compared to what the more established airlines (BA .........etc) have achieved over few decades. Give them a chance.

[AVSEC]

VK,AERO,ARIK,BELLVIEW,keep the flag flying.We require you to succeed for the sake of African Aviation,especially so that there is a real hub in West Africa.

[surely not]

Whilst I echo those sentiments AVSEC, the creation of a viable hub needs the imagination and co-operation of the Airport Authority, Customs, Immigration, Police/Security Forces and the Government. The way in which Lagos Apt is being developed shows no conviction, or maybe knowledge is more accurate, from these agencies as to how a hub should work.

Despite having been shown the basics required for a hub operation FAAN, NAMA and others have failed to provide the infrastructure, or the will, to make it happen. In fact they have gone backwards by insisting that all Domestic flights operate to a terminal that is on the other side of the airport, inadequate for the volume of traffic and in peak times the journey time between the terminals will be easily 30 minutes plus. Passengers will have to lug their bags and bodies through the hoards of taxi touts and money changers instead of a more pleasant and tranquil connection within one terminal.

Until the Government and its agencies show some imagination, will, and possibly belief, to the idea that Lagos can become a major hub it will never happen as it is a far from easy airport to use in its current guise and needs some of the millions set aside for aviation to be spent on it.

I wonder where those millions are? Probably nearer to ZRH airport maybe :E

[oyinbo]

HEAR, HEAR !!! SN, you hit the nail on the head. I do hope it is not a lost cause. Things are getting worse as the years go by. The Aviation department’s don't have no clue.

[AVSEC]

I hope the GHANIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY study surely not and oyinbo's comments as it also applies to them,the Liberians,The Senegalese and the Ivorian as well as Sierra leoneans.

They try to run airports like a badly written B rated American flick.

Security is exagerated but ineffective.
Protectionism is an excuse for monopolised corruption.
ECOWAS is just a name that sounds nice during speeches of African leaders,but cant work like here in Europe,because investment in infrastructure for future profit is not encouraged.
Just look at how the Nigerian Bank was barred from buying majority shares in a Ghanian bank recently.

Aviation is under threat in Africa due to poor leadership,and a refusal to do things simply and effectively before attempting the complex.