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04 March 08
VIRGIN NIGERIA EMBRACES THE BILLING SETTLEMENT PLAN (BSP)
...SET FOR 100% E-TICKETING DEADLINE
Lagos, Nigeria: 04 March 2008: Virgin Nigeria has completed all plans and is now ready to join the IATA Billing Settlement Plan network (BSP) in Nigeria by April 2008. BSP is the IATA Billing Settlement Plan and the internationally accepted method of selling, reporting and settlement of sales made by IATA agents through a central clearing house. BSP will also improve financial control and cash flow of participating airlines as settlement is bi-monthly.
Virgin Nigeria is also a member of the BSP in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Gambia, Zambia, Cote de Ivoire and Botswana. Speaking on the benefits of the BSP, the Chief Financial Officer of Virgin Nigeria, Mr. John Roijen said that the arrival of BSP is a critical milestone event for the Aviation Industry in Nigeria. Apart from the improvement in cash flow to the airlines via guarantees from the clearing house, they will see substantial savings in man hours previously used in reconciliations and other administrative tasks. In addition, travel agents will avoid the multiplicity of reporting to different airlines as they will now report to the central clearing house.
Being a worldwide system, the billing settlement plan is responsible for facilitating sales settlement operations for many airlines and Agents in about 160 Countries. The strategic financial Partner of Virgin Nigeria Airways – UBA (United Bank for Africa), has also recently been appointed the BSP clearing house in Nigeria by IATA
It will be recalled that in her drive to stay in tune with global industry standards, Virgin Nigeria commenced its operations in 2004 by issuing e-tickets, and today is the first Nigerian airline to have achieved almost 100% e-ticketing compliance across her network, ahead of the May 2008 deadline given by IATA.
About Virgin Nigeria
Virgin Nigeria is Nigeria's private sector flag carrier, 51% owned by Nigerian institutional investors and 49% owned by Virgin Atlantic. The airline was formed in September 2004 when the Federal Government of Nigeria announced the selection of Virgin Atlantic Airways as the strategic investor and technical partner in this exciting project.
With the mission of being a World Class Airline from the heart of Africa, Virgin Nigeria, has steadily developed a global network that serves domestic, regional and international routes from its operational hub at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
With a focus on improving the Customer’s Experience, Virgin Nigeria constantly develops innovative products for the Customer‘s Convenience. Some of these product innovations include the online booking and payment system which allows the Customer book from anywhere in world and make payments with an
Interswitch debit card for people in Nigeria and most international credit and debit cards for persons in London.
At the just concluded Dubai Air Show, Virgin Nigeria announced an order for 24 Embraer
aircraft. The order consists of E170s and E190s jets.
Delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled for September
2008.
For more information, visit
www.virginnigeria.com
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