Virgin Nigeria to commence Flights in June 2005

Virgin Nigeria is to commence operations with service on its inaugural route between Lagos and London Heathrow on 28 June 2005.

The airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Simon Harford, today said, “On Tuesday 28 June 2005 the first flight of Virgin Nigeria will take off. The day marks a historic moment for Nigerian aviation as the country’s new fully private sector flag carrier takes to the skies with a weekly service to and from London for the first two weeks, rising to three flights a week thereafter. We are also finalising plans for our opening group of short-haul routes within Africa, which will be announced shortly.”

Virgin Nigeria’s inaugural flight on 28 June, VK281, will operate from Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport to Terminal 3 at London Heathrow Airport. The first flight from London Heathrow to Lagos VK280 will be on Monday 4 July 2005.

The service will be operated using an Airbus 340-300 in a three-class configurations with 187 seats in Economy class, 28 in Premium Economy and 40 Business class seats.

Tickets go on sale from 14 June 2005.

Chairman of Virgin Nigeria, Felix Ohiwerei, said, “Everyone at Virgin Nigeria is delighted by this landmark announcement and we are looking forward to greeting our new passengers on board. We take very seriously the importance of Virgin Nigeria to the Nigerian economy and nation, and are determined to operate to the highest standards of private sector and aviation governance.”

Chairman of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, said, “Today is a momentous first step for Virgin Nigeria and we at Virgin are proud to be associated with this new Nigerian company. Virgin Nigeria is a fully private sector airline and is already a major employer of some 200 Nigerian staff, which will rise to almost 1,000 within months.”

Virgin Nigeria was formally established on 28 September 28, 2004, with the signing of the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding by the Federal Government of Nigeria and Virgin Atlantic Airways, the Strategic Investor/Technical Partner in the country’s new flag carrier project.

The airline is owned 51% by Nigerian Institutional Investors from across the country, via a successful private placement process completed early in 2005. The 49% balance is held by Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited. Share ownership in the new flag carrier is expected to be widened in the future to all Nigerian investors through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

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