Originally published on businesstraveller.com 17/04/2012   RSS

The former Virgin Nigeria, now branded as Air Nigeria, looks set to relaunch flights between Lagos and London Gatwick, according to local media reports.

The carrier previously operated the route as Virgin Nigeria up until 2009 when flights were suspended, with the airline stating its intention to “focus is on consolidating and continuing to expand our profitable domestic and regional flight operations” (see online news January 13, 2009).

Virgin has since sold its stake in the carrier, which is now branded as Air Nigeria, and several local media outlets - including The Nigerian Tribune and The Nation – are reporting that the carrier plans to restart international routes to Gatwick on May 16 and Johannesburg on May 17, with Paris set to be added in June.

The reports state Air Nigeria has acquired two A330-200 aircraft for the new routes, with plans to offer a daily service to London.

Rival Nigerian carrier Arik Air offers daily flights between London Heathrow Terminal 4 and Lagos, although the carrier was recently forced to suspend its London-Abuja route following the breakdown in discussions between the UK and Nigeria governments over bilateral air service agreements (see online news March 16).

British Airways also flies daily to Lagos from Heathrow Terminal 5, as does Virgin Atlantic from Terminal 3.

For more information visit myairnigeria.com.

Report by Mark Caswell