What our industry looks like

Nine domestic airlines in Nigeria sell 24,740 seats daily at 17 airports in the country. The airlines, which have a pool of about 60 aircraft, include Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Associated Air, Bellview Airlines, Capital Airlines, Chanchangi Airlines, IRS Airlines, Overland and Virgin Nigeria Airways.

They ply Lagos , Ibadan , Akure , Benin City, Warri, Enugu , Owerri, Port Harcourt , Calabar, Bebi, Ilorin , Abuja , Kaduna , Kano , Sokoto, Maiduguri and Yola routes.

The airlines involved operate aircraft types such as Beechcraft 1900D, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100, Embraer 125, Bombardier CRJ 200 and Bombardier CRJ 900, Bombardier Q300, Boeing727-200, Boeing 737-200, -300/-400/-700 and -800 series.

He further stated that the carriers have combined total daily flights of over 270 with Arik Air operating 94 flights to 14 destinations, followed by Virgin Nigeria with 49 flights to 11 destinations; Aero, 44 flights to seven destinations and Chanchangi 23 flights to five destinations. Others are IRS with 14 flights to four destinations; Bellview, 10 flights to three destinations; Overland and Capital six flights each to three destinations respectively while Associated Air operates six flights to one destination.

Statistics show that Arik Air operates the largest fleet with 20 aircraft which include Four B737-700, two B737-800, two B737-300, two Fokker F50, two Hawker 850XP, three Bombardier Q300, four Bombardier CRJ 900 and one Bombardier CRJ 200 while Aero has nine aircraft comprising two Boeing 737-400, two Boeing 737-300 and five Bombardier -300. - courtesy, Leadership