Air Nigeria orders four B787-8s
According to reports, Air Nigeria will order four B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. The Boeing aircraft will be delivered by the third quarter of 2014. The acquisition will be financed by the US EXIM Bank and the final contract will be signed on May 22, 2012, in London. Air Nigeria will deploy the B787s on new routes from Lagos to London, Baltimore, Dubai and Beijing.
Meanwhile, Air Nigeria will receive the first of two wet-leased A330-200s from EgyptAir today. The aircraft will arrive at Lagos in the evening, as the airline will commence flights to London Gatwick and Johannesburg later this week.
Aviation in Nigeria 
Although not confirmed by Boeing yet, this comes as great news for Nigerian civil aviation. Since the demise of Nigeria Airways, no Nigerian carrier has operated more than two long-haul aircraft on regular commercial services. Given the lucrative Nigerian routes, and the void created by the absence of a true Nigerian flag carrier, foreign airlines have capitalized (or should I say, preyed) on Nigerian passengers charging them exorbitant fares. Air Nigeria is gradually building its capacity and if this growth is planned carefully with emphasis on excellence, AN is poised to become the West African equivalent of ET or EQ. To accomplish this, AN will need to lobby the Nigerian government to expedite the reconstruction of MMA International Terminal. Infrastructure is a key prerequisite for a global hub and spoke operation. MMA’s condition is deplorable. The arrival lounge is a mess. Haphazard banking and airline stands, bad signage, few baggage carousels, a true disaster when considering its the gateway to such a large country. What’s more shocking is that there no concrete plans to upgrade MMA holistically. The government and aviation ministry have been talking since the early 2000, bringing IFC as consultants, but to no avail so far. This should be opened up to fair, transparent bidding with a clear mandate for the investors. Let the government maintain good runways, aprons, ATC, etc, and the private sector should run air terminal business.
Eze makes great points and ideas. Once confirmed the Dreamliners would be great and with infrastructure in place would mark great strides for Nigeria. Not wanting to be negative, I remember the introduction of the A310s’ in 1984 with great fanfare. Six years later, one had crashed in Port Harcourt and the others were rotting away in Lagos and other places. Is Fola Akikuotu still AN chief pilot?
This is good news.I hope it does materialise. There is a saying that a chain is as strong as the weakest link.Please,let us not omit some important points here.A company cannot progress beyond the level of the management. There is a problem with the Company’s management.There are so many Basic things out of place. The general public are,only see what the management wants it to see.Is anybody aware of the latest problems being encountered due to the arrival of the first AQ-330.These are things you dont see published in the papers.How can a company run when the most basic thing to operate the Aircraft,fuel, is not made available, or being rationed.An Airline cannot operate under tyhese conditions.This is why there have been so many cancellations,delays and disruptions these past few days.How will there be a smooth operation.Unfortunately,there is so much propaganda going on.How can a large organisation be run with all ideas /instructions originating from one person.I do pray very much for the success of Air Nigeria.There are so many dedicated staff in the organisation but let not the public be deceived by all the propaganda.”There is fire on the mountain”. I know,this piece of mine may be edited out of the site, but if it is not,kudos to the people in charge of the website.
@Mike, aviation fuel scarcity is the direct responsibility of the jet fuel sellers and the government which is unwilling to regulate the sector properly to ensure the general public’s well being and steady fuel supply for the vital airline industry in Nigeria. This is not the airlines fault since airlines very rarely engage in jet fuel production or processing. Second, you make a good point on the one-man show syndrome (Jimo), but I have a reason to believe the airline’s Ethiopian managing director is given a lot of leeway to do things his way. I was impressed by his comments to journalists when he highlighted the A330s economics on the Landon route (compared to the Arik A340-500 which was designed for ultra long haul flights not shorter 7 hr flights. The man knows a lot about airline economics, something which may not be said for Arik. I hope the airline continues to be run on a commercial basis. There is no reason why a Nigerian carrier cannot succeed on London route or many others. It’s a matter of long term thinking, proper training, investment and a management that has all the expertise to succeed.
Should they have gone for the 9s instead, which look set to be more of an allrounder just as is the case with the 777-300ER?
There aren’t many African countries with an airport system the size of Nigeria’s up till now. Although how integrated and well functioning this system is, is another issue but without the need to be a professor, one can conclude Lagos will remain the main gateway and then you’ll have the other smaller airports.
Bad as it’s been run, it’s still the best functional airport design in the country, which has to be a compliment.
Redevolp it by updating the masterplan with todays knowledge by turning the airport campus into an airport city and develop the rest of the aviation support structure in tandem. With that, Nigeria will top the continent and become a repected airport country again, and the continental equivalent of Schiphol and Changi or even better.
In all the years since the Ikeja airport fire and subsequent developments, no signals have been picked up of any serious effort by the FG to call on NACO, who designed virttually the national airport system and of course, the crown jewel, Lagos. They are still very much leading the leading edge of integrated airport solutions and are working on Beijing 2, which they recently won.
With what happened to Dana Air, other airlines shouldn’t be allowed to procure refurbished planes. Only new planes are good enough for Nigeria and Nigerians. After all, the airline business is supposed to be for the long-term.
Age is not the most important matter in this case. Proper maintenance and oversight are what Nigerian airlines need.
If comment 6 was made in the context of the state of maintenance, then they age or rather an upper limit for cycles done should be set and adjusted as local maintenance facilitation improves to the extent the country comes up o par with the best in the business.
Not as direct an analogy as would have been desired but take the case of underground piped municipal gas for cooking. Until the urban development improves to a certain level, we should stick to bottled gas.
This is great news for the Nigerian aviation industry.