December 21, 2006

AVIATION MINISTER COMMENDS VIRGIN NIGERIA FOR BEEN IN THE VANGUARD OF BEST PRACTICES

Lagos, Nigeria: 21 December: The Honourable Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has commended Virgin Nigeria for the foresight and worthy investment in consistently delivering international standards. The Minister made the remark via Mr Deremi Ajidahun, the Honourable Ministers' Special Assistant, who represented him at Virgin Nigeria's "Wings" ceremony. The Wings ceremony is where cabin crew members and pilots who have finished their training are celebrated and "given their wings". This is Virgin Nigeria's fourth and second graduating batch of cabin crew members and pilots respectively. The Minster through his representative also urged other airlines to emulate Virgin Nigeria in the area of quality which according to him has no substitute.

Chief Fani-Kayode in his remark during the Wings ceremony said: "Quality has no substitute, and it is heart-warming that Virgin Nigeria is in the vanguard of championing global best practices to achieve her vision of becoming a world class airline from the heart of Africa".

The Minister further reiterated the Federal Government's resolve to continually pursue the attainment of higher aviation standards in Nigeria and he enjoined all to support the ongoing reforms.

Speaking on the successes of the new employees, the Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Nigeria, Mr. Conrad Clifford said: "today, we celebrate our employees who have successfully passed through the crew training programme in Nigeria, United Kingdom and Germany", stating that "the Wings ceremony is a reaffirmation of Virgin Nigeria's commitment to best practices. We place a premium on the recruitment of competent staff and taking all our employees, especially the cabin crew through a painstaking training programme all in the interests of delivering safe and comfortable service to our customers".

"At Virgin Nigeria, we recognise the importance of our on-board crew as our ambassadors and we will endeavour to continuously deliver the excellent onboard service our airline is known for", Conrad further said.

These pilots and cabin crew will join Virgin Nigeria's fleet which currently stands at nine aircraft. Of these nine aircraft, seven of them have all Nigerian cockpit and crew members.

About Virgin Nigeria:
Virgin Nigeria is the registered, fully private sector flag carrier of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, owned 51% by Nigerian Institutional shareholders and 49% by Virgin Atlantic.

The airline operates the following

intercontinental services:
Lagos to London: Daily
Johannesburg: Three times a week
 

Regional services:
Accra: Daily
Douala: Two times a week
Dakar: Two times a week

Domestic services:
Lagos - Abuja: Six times daily
***Lagos - Port Harcourt: (Now diverted to Owerri two times daily)
***Abuja - Port Harcourt: (Now diverted to Owerri once daily)
Lagos - Kano: Five times a week
Abuja - Kano: Five times a week
Lagos - Sokoto: Two times a week from December 3rd 2006
Abuja - Calabar: three times a week from December 4th 2006

For reservations, call (01) 460 0505; (01) 271 1111; (09) 461 0505; (084) 460505

For all press enquiries, please contact: corporatecommunications@virginnigeria.com

For media information in Nigeria only, please contact Corporate Communications, 3rd floor, Ark towers, Plot 17 Ligali Ayorinde Street, VI, or corpcomm@virginnigeria.com; 234 -1 – 2711144

For media information in the UK please contact the Virgin Atlantic Press Office on 01293 747 373.