..Set to begin international flight to Jeddah
Med-View Airlines is set to begin another international flight out of the country to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
As part of preparations for the operations, the airline has unveiled its latest aircraft, Boeing 737-800 from Slovakia, which delivered over the weekend.
With the unveiling of the new aircraft, the airline fleet is expected to increase to five .
Speaking during the unveiling, the managing director, Med-View, Alhaji Muneer Bankole said the airline would begin two weekly flights from Lagos-Kano to Jeddah with plans to increase the frequencies to four in the coming months.
Bankole declared that the aircraft, which landed at the international wing of the airport on Sunday evening, was leased from Air Explore in Slovakia and would be used for the Jeddah route from December 31, 2015.
He stated that the airline had been designated to 17 international and regional routes, including seven in Africa, which it would continue to explore and operate into.
According to him, in the couple of weeks, the airline would expand its Port Harcourt operations to two from the existing one daily.
Med-View boss maintained that apart from the Jeddah route, which the aircraft would be deployed to, the aircraft would immediately commence flight operations on its Yola route, which it has since increased from one daily to twice daily.
Commenting on its Lagos-London flights, Bankole stated that the flights had been increasing on a daily basis .
He expressed confidence that it would continue to grow.
In his words, “we chose Gatwick instead of Heathrow airport because the airport has a limited challenge. From Heathrow alone, we have three airlines that are operating direct daily flights; British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Arik Air, but we are the only one operating from Gatwick. As it is today, all our flights out of Lagos to London are fully booked till the end of January. I don’t know whether to call it acceptance or something else, but one thing I know is that our flights have been increasing daily and I want to thank Nigerians for this. Also, our flights to and from Accra route, which we started about 14 months ago have been increasing and regularly full. We are also planning Dubai operations in the first quarter of 2016 and that is how we hope to grow and consolidate on our operations.”
Also speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Explore, Slovakia, Mr. Martin Stulajter, applauded the management of Med-View for the existing relationships between the two organisations.
The existing relationship would continue as the airline had proved to be reliable and consistent in its business development plans, Stulajter promised.
The aircraft with the registration number OM-GEX is configured for 176 passengers; eight business class seats and 176 economy seats.
