Medview Airline commences flight operations to London

INDIGENOUS carrier, Medview Airline, yesterday announced it has received the nod of the United Kingdom (UK) and Nigerian governments to commence direct flight operations from Lagos to London.

News of the success in scaling through the hurdles of the UK and Nigerian aviation regulatory authorities to now commence direct commercial flight into Gatwick Airport, London, was applauded by the industry, given the huge benefits to Nigeria and hundreds of Nigerian passengers.

The first of such benefits is that the country will now have two indigenous airlines (the other being Arik Air) reciprocating the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA), which saw two British Airlines (British Airways and Virgin Atlantic) flying into Nigeria daily and making millions of dollars in airfare ticket sales. The other advantage is the competition on that route, which has already led to a slash in air fares as Medview charges a return ticket of N149,000 on the Lagos-London route as opposed to the existing fares ranging from N220,000 to N350,000 charged by the other airlines on their economy seats.

Managing Director/ CEO of Medview Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, at a press conference in Lagos yesterday announced Friday, November 20, 2015 as the date for the airline’s inaugural flight from Lagos to London.

“We have been working round the clock to secure all the necessary approvals needed to commence flight operations between Nigeria and UK,” Bankole said.

“I am happy to tell Nigerians that the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Foreign Affairs Ministries of the two countries have given Medview Airline all approvals required to operate direct flights between the two countries with our inaugural flight scheduled for November (Friday) 20, 2015 with a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft christened Abeke, which has a configuration of 30C/19Y seats,” he added.

Bankole said the airline’s entry into the Lagos-London route was one taken with a major aim of bringing down the cost of airfares for Nigerian passengers.

“The London-Lagos route has remained one of the busiest in the world, yet it remained the most expensive for Nigerians,” Bankole said.

“It is against this background that Medview Airline is entering the route as a Nigerian flag carrier to supply the missing link in reasonable fares and good customer service as our introductory fare for economy class is as low as N149,000,” he added.

Bankole said the airline was allocated slots to operate at the Gatwick Southern Terminal and would be operating four weekly flights (Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) out of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to Gatwick Airport.

He said the choice of Gatwick over Heathrow was taken given its low operational cost and the proximity to so many Nigerian passengers who would prefer to connect London to Lagos from Spain and other coastal European countries.