The management of Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, said on Wednesday, it is resuming flight services from Lagos to Freetown in Sierra Leone with effect from February 23, 2016.
Flights from Lagos to Freetown were suspended in July 2014 following the outbreak of the Ebola in some West African nations.
Ola Banji, Arik Air spokesman, said the resumed service will entail a new schedule with flights from Lagos to Freetown now routed via Accra, Ghana.
This will be a three weekly flight to be operated on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday using a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) aircraft configured to carry 20 Business Class and 126 Economy Class passengers.
Outbound flights will depart Lagos at 7:20 am and arrive Accra at 7:20 am. The flight then departs Accra at 8:05 am and arrives in Freetown at 10:30 am.
The inbound flight leaves Freetown at 11:15 am and arrives Accra at 1:40 pm. The flight then continues onto Lagos, leaving Accra at 2:25 pm to arrive into Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 4:25 pm. All times are local.
Arik Air made its foray into Freetown in June 2009 and had operated uninterrupted until July 2014.
Speaking on the resumption, Arik Air’s Managing Director, Chris Ndulue said, “Arik Air is the dominant carrier in West and Central Africa and air travelers in this region look up to us to fly them to their destinations. We want to assure our loyal customers on the Lagos-Freetown route that we are back to deliver the safe, secure and reliable services that are the hallmark of Arik Air.”
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), 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.
