Arik Air managing director Chris Ndulue has indicated the airline plans to commence services to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea and Ivory Coast in 2013. Other routes are expected to include Lagos-Houston, Abuja-Kano-Jeddah, Accra-London, and Freetown-London.
In apparent conflict with other suggestions about its inability to raise cash, the carrier has reportedly secured a USD2 billion credit facility from international financiers to fund the purchase of new aircraft, potentially including Boeing 787s.
However, intercontinental expansion and associated fleet orders have long been touted by the airline, but never eventuated.
While Arik is Nigeria’s largest carrier, its network is focused on western Africa. Its network consists of 20 domestic destinations and 12 regional points, with the exception of a daily 737-800 Lagos-Johannesburg and daily Lagos-London and three times weekly Lagos-New York each operated with A340-500 aircraft.
The carrier dropped its Abuja-London service in Mar-2012 after the lease on a Heathrow slot from bmi expired and Arik claimed the Nigerian and British governments were unable to agree on terms under the 2008 bilateral air services agreement for a replacement slot.
Arik Air route map as at Jan-2013
Arik Air has added a twice weekly service from Lagos to Kinshasa, DRC, in Dec-2012 as an extension to its three times weekly Lagos-Douala route, using two-class, 124-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft. Kinshasa is Africa’s third largest city with a population of around nine million.
Arik competes with ASKY Airlines and Camair on Lagos-Douala and with Camair on Douala-Kinshasa, according to Innovata.
For its part, Aero took delivery of two Boeing 737-400s in Nov-2012, taking its fleet to 12, consisting of a mix of 737-400 and 500s as well as Dash 8-300s. The carrier says it will use the additional aircraft to open new routes. It currently operates to 11 domestic points.
Aero’s sole destination outside of Nigeria is a 12 times weekly Lagos-Accra, Ghana, service. Its main hubs are Lagos and Abuja.
The airline also resumed operations to Port Harcourt and Warri from Lagos on 05-Nov-2012 with Dash 8-300 aircraft.
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