December 21, 2006

4th WINGS CEREMONY PRESS RELEASE

BEING THE TEXT OF ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VIRGIN NIGERIA AIRWAYS AT THE 4TH WINGS CEREMONY AND THE 2ND GRADUATION OF ITS NIGERIAN PILOTS HELD ON THE 21ST DECEMBER, 2006.

The Hon. Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode
Chairman and Directors of Virgin Nigeria
Top Government functionaries
Partners and Associates of Virgin Nigeria
Our Media Partners
Ladies and Gentlemen:

Today marks another milestone in the steady progress of our airline, Virgin Nigeria in the area of capacity building in the nation’s aviation industry. Today, we are proud to celebrate another set of our crew members who have successfully scaled through rigorous tests designed to establish standards of excellence of Virgin Nigeria Airways. This we have consistently done since we commence operations in June 2005.

We have before us this morning 10 Pilots and 50 cabin crew members. These 60 people are very bright Nigerians, who, only recently, successfully undertook a very exhaustive and challenging aviation training programme. Like their previous counterparts, they were thoroughly trained in Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP); Aviation Medicine and Security; Dangerous Goods as well as Crew Resource Management (CRM), in addition to tackling issues of teamwork, aviation and stress. They sat for an examination as the final part of their training which they passed, so we can confidently say these our employees have truly earned their wings. It is therefore their individual and collective achievements that we are celebrating this morning.

These 50 cabin crew members and 10 pilots represent the fourth batch of our cabin crew members and second batch of pilots respectively to have passed through our crew training programme. Like the pioneer batch of our crew members and subsequent batches, this fourth batch was exposed to trainings on Airbus (A340-300) and the Boeing (B737-300) aircraft. They went through full training in several aspects of pilot and cabin Crew Training in Nigeria, United Kingdom and Germany.

At Virgin Nigeria, we recognise the importance of our on-board crew. Our cabin crew are the face of our airline, they are our ambassadors. This accounts for why we have taken them through all it takes to maintain the Virgin Nigeria standard of excellence.

My charge to our new cabin crew members as I welcome them to the Virgin Nigeria fold is simple: don’t drop the baton of excellence. Keep our customers safe and happy.

Our Special Guest of Honour, the Honourable Minister of Aviation, and the high profile team from the Ministry of Aviation, our distinguished guests, kindly permit me to reiterate an article of faith, which is representative of the belief of the management of Virgin Nigeria: We pledge constant growth and constant innovation, anchored on safety, security, reliability and comfort of our passengers.

I thank you all for listening.

Conrad Clifford
Lagos, Nigeria.
Thursday, 21 December 2006

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.