Officials of Air Nigeria and Delta Airline of America, last Tuesday, formally sealed a mutually beneficial business deal in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The details of the deal were unfolded at a colourful ceremony held at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja. In line with the terms of the partnership, the two airlines have agreed to share flight codes in their operations from Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria to Atlanta and New York airports in the United States of America, USA. The deal also provides for code sharing of routes and flight activities to such cities in Africa as Accra, Monrovia, Sao Tome, Freetown, Conakry, Nairobi, Kano, Addis Ababa, Enugu, Owerri, Benin and Luanda.
The deal is said to be a unique arrangement whereby Delta, an airline that is reputed to operate over 4,000 flights everyday, will be the carrier airline for most of the flights while Air Nigeria which offers direct non-stop air service to over 75 countries and 185 destinations around the world, will handle the marketing arrangements . The inaugural flight under the “code share” arrangement was carried out by Delta Airline last Tuesday, from Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, to Atlanta.
Kinfe Kahssaye, chief executive officer, CEO, of Air Nigeria, who stood in for Jimoh Ibrahim, chairman of the airline, described the ceremony as a happy event. Kahssaye told a handful of aviation stakeholders, representatives of some embassies and journalists who came to witness the ceremony that his organisation “is happy to be associated with Delta,” an airline that is reputed to have more than 700 aircraft, criss-crossing more than 370 destinations and is patronised by over 116 million passengers annually. “It is going to be a happy and fruitful marriage, in view of the fact that Air Nigeria is also bringing into the union its vast experiences as a strong operator in Africa,” he said.
Kahssaye said both airlines would derive a number of benefits from the deal, including increased patronage and better air traffic operations in Africa. He explained that Air Nigeria being one of Nigeria’s most innovative airlines, clearly understood that in the present ever-expanding world of aviation, no airline can conveniently go it alone; hence, it opted to enter into the partnership with Delta Airline which he described as an internationally acclaimed performer. The Air Nigeria CEO also said that the deal would be of immense benefit to the entire aviation industry in Nigeria and America. He explained that because of the strong operational base of Air Nigeria in Nigeria, the deal would offer ready attraction for more than 40 million Afro-Americans who have been eagerly looking for an opportunity to visit their roots in Africa.
Robert Byran, country representative of Delta Airline in Nigeria, agreed with the optimism expressed by his Air Nigeria counterpart. He said that Delta Airline couldn’t have found a more beautiful bride than Air Nigeria to partner with. He described the deal as a “positive partnership.”
Byran revealed that the business deal his airline had entered into with Air Nigeria was the first of its kind in the aviation history of Delta. He explained that discussions on the details of the deal went on for quite a while and expressed happiness that the inaugural fight under a code-shared flight arrangement was taking place on the same day that the deal was made public in Abuja.
Byran and Kahssaye later cut a cake to formalise the business marriage between the two airlines. The ceremony was witnessed by representatives of the American embassy in Abuja, officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, as well as representatives from the media in Nigeria.
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