Air Nigeria plans stock market flotation
Monday, May 28, 2012Omoba
Air Nigeria is to be floated on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2014 under ambitious
plans to make the airline a genuine national carrier that can compete globally.
On May 16,
Air Nigeria commenced direct flights between Lagos and London, flying between
Murtala Mohammed International Airport and Gatwick Airport's south terminal. It
procured an Airbus A330-200 with 24 business seats and 244 economy seats for
the service.
In addition,
the airline plans to take delivery of four Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes by the
third quarter of 2014. When the planes are delivered and functional, Air
Nigeria will become the first West African airline to have Dreamliner aircraft
in its fleet.
Jimoh Ibrahim, Air
Nigeria's chairman, said: "Air Nigeria will now be an airline owned by Nigerians. You
will be a shareholder, I will be a shareholder and it will be our
airline."
He added
that the emphasis will be on international routes as that is where airlines
make decent profits. According to Mr. Ibrahim, destinations like Rome and Paris
are routes which Air Nigeria has in mind.
Also, Mr
Ibrahim said that Air Nigeria will take delivery of another Airbus A330-200
during the course of June as part of these ambitious plans. He pointed out that
this aircraft will fly the Lagos to Dubai route.
He added:
"We
have got government approval to fly to Rome, Paris, Johannesburg and Dubai. We
will start flying to Dubai before the end of this quarter."
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