By Dipo Awojobi – One of Nigeria’s leading airlines, Arik Air on Monday celebrated its 10th anniversary with the addition of a new Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft to its fleet.
The Managing Director of the Airline, Mr Chris Ndulue, told newsmen in Lagos that the addition was part of plans of Arik to increase its fleet to 52 by 2025.
Ndulue said that the new aircraft was rolled out to celebrate 10 years of providing safe and secure air travel to the Nigerian public and continuous elevation of Nigeria’s global standing in aviation.
He attributed the phenomenal growth of Arik Air to its business model which was based on modern equipment and new technology, high standards of maintenance and connectivity.
“Given the airline’s dominant position in the aviation market today, along with current and future planned capacity, in the coming years, we hope to maintain our market leadership.
“Our growth strategy involves substantially increasing our fleet from 28 aircraft today to 52 aircraft by 2025.
“On route development, we are looking at starting new routes and we will update our customers with details in the New Year.”
According to him, Arik Air has in the past 10 years delivered on its promise of operating the youngest fleet in West Africa with an average of seven to eight years.
“The airline has also been creating employment opportunities and partnering with top maintenance providers such as Lufthansa Technicals, Lufthansa City line and Dance Engineering under full turn-key maintenance service contracts from inception to date.”
On his part, the Chairman, Arik Arik, Mr Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, thanked Nigerians and travellers worldwide for the support and patronage that had enabled the airline to successfully complete a decade in aviation.
