30 April 08

VIRGIN NIGERIA NOW LISTED IN IOSA DIRECTORY …emerges 1st West African airline in the IOSA Directory

Lagos Nigeria, 30th April 2008: Virgin Nigeria is now listed on the IOSA Directory following its successful completion of the intensive IATA Operational Safety Audit.

Virgin Nigeria is the first Nigerian airline and first West African carrier to be listed on the IOSA Directory.

Speaking on this development, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Conrad Clifford noted: “Virgin Nigeria’s listing on the IOSA Directory is coming at an auspicious time when the airline is forming alliances with other global airlines to better compete favorably on the international scene”.

“Virgin Nigeria is resolute in adhering to globally recognized safety standards and the IOSA listing confirms the premium we place on safety”, said Mr. Clifford.

Part of the benefits of being listed in the IOSA Directory is that Virgin Nigeria can undertake audit sharing with other airlines, thereby increasing its code-share and interline business opportunities with other IOSA compliant airlines worldwide.
 
IOSA is the IATA Operational safety audit programme and the internationally accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of airlines. The audit employs internationally recognized quality audit principles that are in a standardized and consistent manner worldwide.

For more information, visit: http://www.iata.org/ps/certification/iosa/operator?c=VGN

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 is constantly developing innovative products for the convenience of its customers. Some of these innovations include the online booking and payment system. The online and booking payment system allows the customer to book from anywhere in world, as well as make payments with an interswitch debit card for people in Nigeria and most international credit and debit cards for persons in London.

Virgin Nigeria’s customers traveling on the domestic service can also make use of the new ‘Carry On, Carry Off’ product called “COCO”. This product allows passengers traveling on the domestic service carrying cabin hand luggage which is over 6kg to hand these over to the attendants at the foot of the aircraft. These bags are specially tagged and collected by the passengers on arrival at the tarmac.

Virgin Nigeria recently 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