Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, said on Tuesday, it is increasing its frequency on the Lagos-Dakar (Senegal) route to a daily service up from six weekly flights commencing February 22, 2016.
According to Ola Banji, Arik Air spokesperson, the new schedule will operate with four of the Lagos-Dakar flights routed via Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire instead of the previous routing via Banjul.
The other three flights will continue to operate via Accra, Ghana.
The Lagos-Abidjan-Dakar service will operate on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday while the Lagos-Accra-Dakar service will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
With the new schedule, Arik Air will be able to provide its customers convenient access between Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Abidjan and Dakar markets.
The airline will also be increasing its frequency on the Lagos-Banjul route from three weekly to four weekly flights effective March 14, 2016. All the flights will be operated via Accra using a Boeing 737-700 Next Generation (NG) aircraft.
The Lagos-Accra-Banjul service will be operated on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Sunday, making Arik Air the only airline operating non-stop from Banjul to Accra. Additionally, Abuja passengers can connect conveniently to Banjul via Accra on all four days.
Commenting on the development, Arik Air’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Suraj Sundaram, said: “Being the largest airline in West and Central Africa comes with the responsibility to meet the increasing demand from our customers to improve connectivity in the region. We are committed to improving these connections to facilitate the movement of passengers and cargo seamlessly across our expanding network.”
Arik Air is Nigeria and West Africa’s largest airline and operates mainly from two hubs at Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
It operates a fleet of 28 state-of-the art regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft including two Airbus A340-500 making the airline the first operator of the wide bodied aircraft in Africa.
The airline currently serves 19 destinations across Nigeria as well as Accra (Ghana), Banjul (Gambia), Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Monrovia (Liberia), Cotonou (Benin Republic), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Douala (Cameroon), Luanda (Angola), Libreville (Gabon), London Heathrow (UK), Johannesburg (South Africa) and New York JFK (USA). The airline operates a combined number of about 120 daily flights from its hubs in Lagos and Abuja, and has been Africa’s fastest growing airline for the last five years.
By: Sade Williams