Arik Air which entered the route with a new Airbus A340-500, according our investigation, is becoming the preferred airline by holiday makers who spoke with BusinessDay in Lagos and London.
Relatively new on international flight operation, Arik Air has one of the newest aircraft on the route, according to the passengers who also applauded the airline’s in-flight service and entertainment.
Across section of air passengers who spoke with
BusinessDay expressed optimism that Arik will make the country proud, declaring the airline’s arrival on the route “a welcome development”.One of the passengers who preferred anonymity said: “We now have what we can call our own Nigerian airline. We are very proud of the development”.
In an earlier comment on the operations of Arik on the London route, director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), told aviation correspondents that the airline had become a good alternative.
The NCAA boss remarked that he was shocked at passengers’ reaction, which he described as an indication that once Nigerian airlines can get their acts together passengers are willing to fly on their aircraft.
It would be recalled that Arik Air launched its Lagos-London-Lagos route on December 15, 2008 with a daily flight, arriving London in the evening after departing Lagos between 10a.m and 12 noon.
The airline commenced operation with an Airbus A340-500 aircraft, all leather seats with good seat pitch, which has caught the attention of air passengers.
The entrance of Arik Air on the Lagos-London-Lagos route has tremendously reduced the pressure on passengers who before now usually experienced difficulties returning to their base after the yuletide.
The busy schedules of airlines during the festive season would have left many passengers stranded for a week or two as was usually the case in previous years. However, air passengers were full of praise for the airline, describing the timing of commencement of operations between Lagos and London as perfect.
Kolawole Oni, a frequent traveller, who was seeing his family off at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos said: “It was tough, as all the airlines kept on saying they were fully booked.” He disclosed that it was a friend that advised him to try Arik Air to London.
“I just wish other airlines would be like this, bring in the latest equipment and cultured crew, we will all stop using these foreign carriers”, he said.
Another passenger, Chuka Nwankwo, said “I flew Arik down to Lagos, my brother, the flight was full, and the aircraft was superb”.
Nwankwo said he would be flying the airline back to London, saying that its coming to the route is a big help to the travelling public.
Omowumi Adeola, said, “the airline has shown that Nigerians can do it if we are serious. A lot of us would have been stranded after the holidays.” The arrival of Arik Air increased the number of Nigerian airlines on the Lagos-London route to three.
