According to eTurboNews, Alex Van Elk, Managing Director of Arik Air, believes in the future of a profitable low-cost airline in Nigeria.
The Dutch-born Van Elk said that he was already mobilising French investors for that purpose. Although he would not disclose the name of the new airline for now, he promised that it would become operational in the next 10 months.
According to Van Elk, “we have made contact with Nigerian authorities and they are quite pleased with our plans and assured us of government support”.
He stressed that the airline would succeed because it would be devoid of the mistakes associated with most Nigerian airlines, such as poor revenue accounting, acquisition of aging aircraft, lack of good reservation systems, heavy cost of overheads and ambitious route networks. The emerging low-cost carrier he said would not venture into unprofitable routes and would be run professionally with the right calibre of staff.
He also disclosed that the airline was consultations with big carriers in Europe, Asia and Africa for interline arrangements, stressing that the responses had been very encouraging.
Van Elk further added that the airline fare would be very affordable, but noted that there would be no in-flight refreshment.