19 April 07

Address by Conrad Clifford, Chief Executive Officer
At Facts & Figures Media briefing,
April 19, 2007 at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.

Our Distinguished Media Partners,

We have had to call this briefing today in accordance with our tradition of talking face to face when there are very important issues at hand.

Since June 28, 2005 when we launched our flight operations, we have steadily been developing a global route network from our home base in Lagos and increasing travel options to our Nigerian customers.

Virgin Nigeria is the biggest airline operating in Nigeria today with 30 scheduled flights a day. Despite the increase in a relatively short time, Virgin Nigeria has a consistent policy of always placing the safety, security and comfort of passengers and cabin crew members at the forefront and at no time has the airline compromised on this.

We take the issue of safety seriously. The average age of our Boeing 737 aircraft is about 8 years and our fleet of aircraft is operated in strict compliance with all manufacturers’ and safety authorities rules and regulations.

It is pertinent to note that our fleet of Boeing 737 is maintained by Lufthansa Technik; the Airbus A340 by Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and the A330 by British Midland Airways. The mentioned technical partners have the highest standards and reputation in Europe and the aviation world.

Also, our team of Engineers carries out maintenance inspection checks prior to every departure as part of our daily routine checks and we have a proactive programme of continuous quality safety operations in place.

Of late, it has been alleged that we have a worrisome spate of air returns. It is noteworthy to know that most of the air returns made by Virgin Nigeria were as a result of external factors such as weather, VIP movement, and bird strike. We report everything by choice and at no time do we conceal information from the regulatory authorities.

At an average of 30 flights per day, we operated 5336 flights over the period: November 2006 – April 2007. Over the said period, we had 6 number of air returns due to the following causes – One air return due to bird strike; another one due to VIP movement; another one due to bad weather while three were as a result of technical issues with landing gear retraction.

Air returns are operational hazards that happen once in a while. The important thing is that Virgin Nigeria has the required capable people, structure and systems to deal with the situation and Nigerians should continue to trust us.

Virgin Nigeria in accordance with the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MOR) ensures that all Air Safety Reports (ASR) are filed, accessed and recommendations made towards the enhancement of flight safety operations.

On the issue of delayed flights, a number of external factors that are beyond our control contribute to our On-Time-Performance (OTP). (These will be dealt with later when one of my colleagues makes his presentation)

In the course of our operations, we are faced with challenges of weather and it is public knowledge that no airline will operate when there is bad weather. Once a flight is delayed, it impacts on other scheduled flights for the day.

Other external factors that contribute towards OTP include fuelling, catering, break down of conveyor belts thus necessitating manual loading.

We are aware the Ministry is trying to put things right but in the interim; we have to live with the challenges posed by these external factors.

On the issue of customer service, our service culture is evolving and we take customers feedback seriously towards the enhancement of service delivery. We know we are not where we want to be but we are committed towards meeting our customers’ expectations.

We will therefore like to offer our apologies to the Nigerian public for the shortfall in expectations. We would however like to assure that we are doing everything to meet our objective of minimum customers’ complaints as you would agree with me, it is impossible to have zero customers’ complaints.

We have a Customer Relations department and I as the CEO take interest in the feedback Virgin Nigeria gets from the customers. Virgin Nigeria is the only airline in Nigeria with a dedicated email for customers’ feedback.

Before calling on my colleagues to give their more detailed presentations, I wish to place on record the determination of the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to move the aviation industry forward and we wholeheartedly support his aspirations. Our inability to be in Abuja for the meeting last Tuesday is regretted. We subsequently met with him and we had a full and frank discussion. He was very pleased with our presentation and commended us for doing a good job. He then promised to give us the necessary support to continue play our role as the nation’s flag carrier.

I now call my other colleagues who are here to throw more light on other related issues.

I thank you all for listening
Conrad Clifford

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: Eleven times a week
Douala: Two times a week
Dakar: Two times a week

Domestic services:
Lagos - Abuja: Eight times daily
***Lagos - Owerri: Three times daily
***Lagos - Port Harcourt: Two times daily
Lagos - Kano:: Six times a week
Abuja - Kano: Six times a week
Lagos - Sokoto (via Abuja): Three times a week
Abuja - Sokoto: Three times a week
Lagos- Calabar: Six times a week

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.