Arik Air

Arik Air is an airline based in Lagos, Nigeria operating a growing domestic network. Regional and international destinations are planned to be added. Its main base is Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

History

On 3 April 2006, Arik Air took over the former Nigeria Airways facilities in Lagos, some three years after liquidation and began reconstruction work. On 14 June 2006, Arik took delivery of the two new Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft to fly domestic routes throughout Nigeria and to the African continent from summer 2006, two former United Airlines Boeing 737-300s and three 50 seat Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft. On 30 October 2006 Arik began scheduled passenger flights with four flights between Lagos and Abuja using CRJ 900 aircraft. Flight operations began to Calabar on 15 November 2006 and services to Benin City and Enugu started on 7 January 2007. The airline is wholly owned by Ojemai Investments.

The Nigerian government set a deadline of 30 April 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded, in an effort to ensure better services and safety. The airline satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalization and was re-registered for operation.

On April 4, 2008, Arik Air was given permission by to fly to the United States by the Department of Transportation.

Destinations

The initial domestic network was expected to cover the following cities: Abuja, Calabar, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, and Yola. The airline has also commenced international service to Accra in Ghana and plans to operate in the future to Dakar.

In August 2006, the Federal Ministry of Aviation granted Arik Air authorization to fly to Trinidad and Tobago and Amsterdam, London, Madrid in Europe. Furthermore, the airline plans to fly to Atlanta, Miami, and Houston in the United States and Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Arik Air has built up a strong domestic network. Regional and long-haul routes to neighbouring countries and Europe will be introduced later in 2008. The first flight to the United States is announced for February 2009.

Arik Air will start operating flights to London-Heathrow in November 2008, using Airbus A340-500s as equipment.

A subsidiary airline Arik Niger will be established in Niger, operating a fleet of five aircraft. First domestic and regional flights will commence in August 2008.

Africa

Ghana

Accra (Kotoka International Airport)

Nigeria

Europe

United Kingdom

London (London Heathrow Airport) [Starts Nov 2008]

Fleet

The Arik Air fleet includes the following aircraft (as of 29 September 2008)

:

Arik Air Fleet
Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Business/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A340-500	1 (2 orders)	260 (30/230)	London Heathrow	Expected delivery November 2008
Boeing 737-322	2		Domestic and Regional Routes
Boeing 737-700	9		Domestic and Regional Routes
Boeing 737-800/900	(22 orders)			Expected delivery 2009
Boeing 747-8	(4 orders)			LOI; Expected delivery 2010-11
Boeing 777-300ER	(5 orders)			Expected delivery 2011
Boeing 787-9	(7 orders)			Expected delivery 2014
Bombardier CRJ-900ER	4 (3 orders)		Domestic and Regional Routes
Bombardier Dash 8 Q300	3		Domestic Routes	leased from Denim Air
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400	(4 orders)
Hawker Executive Jets 800XP	2
Fokker 50	1		Domestic Routes	leased from Denim Air

As of 10 July 2008, the average age of the Arik Air fleet is 5.4 years (

).

External links

References

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Last updated on Thursday October 09, 2008 at 01:20:23 PDT (GMT -0700)
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