Direct US-Nigeria Flights to Resume After 3 years

By Tume Ahemba Posted 11 July 2006 @ 07:47 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

LAGOS (Reuters) - A U.S.-based airline will start New York-Lagos flights next week, three years after a dispute between Nigeria and the United States halted direct flights between the two countries, an aviation official said on Tuesday.

North American, a unit of World Air Holdings Inc., has secured a permit to fly direct to Lagos after Nigeria apparently backed down in a dispute with Washington over flagship airline Virgin Nigeria, a diplomatic source said.

"I can confirm that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has given North American a technical permit to fly to Nigeria and they will begin operations next week," a spokesman for the authority said.

Virgin Nigeria, 49 percent owned by Briton Richard Branson's Virgin Group and 51 percent owned by Nigerian investors, was set up after the liquidation of state-run Nigeria Airways, which used to fly from Lagos to New York and London.

Last year, the United States barred Virgin Nigeria from flying to New York citing Branson's interest in the airline. Washington argued it would be unfair to permit a partly British-owned airline to benefit from the U.S.-Nigeria open-skies agreement.Nigeria countered by banning Continental Airlines from flying the same route.

The Lagos-New York route is very popular and when flights are available they are usually packed.

The diplomatic source said the dispute over Virgin Nigeria had still not been resolved.

New York-based North America, a charter and scheduled passenger airline, said it would offer three weekly round trips with its Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, which has 30 business class and 176 economy seats. The airline currently flies to Ghana and the Gambia.

"Lagos is a logical addition to the North American Airlines system," the airline's chief marketing officer Rob Binns said in a statement.

North American had already tried to fly to Lagos in 2003, after Washington lifted a 10-year ban on direct flights to Nigeria, but that was called off after a few months following the collapse of a partnership with little-know Rite Time.