- Med-View to Resume London, Dubai Operations Next Month
Med-View Airline will resume its London and Dubai fight services in May, the Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, has said.
Bankole explained that the services were suspended when the airline returned the leased Boeing 777 and 737-800 aircraft used on the routes, while two out of its four aircraft were also taken out of the country, one for a C-check and the other for reconfiguration.
He stated, “The decision to return the aircraft affected our London and Dubai routes, but we are still on these routes. The agencies of government of the two countries as well as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority were duly notified of our decision to suspend operations on these routes.
“We lift an average of 8,000 to 10,000 passengers monthly on the London route; in January precisely, we airlifted 9,000 passengers and Nigerians are happy with what we have been able to achieve. The aircraft will be returned by the first week in May; once we take the delivery, we will resume.”
Bankole said the airline was also in talks with Boeing and a leasing company to procure aircraft for its hajj, London and Dubai services.
He stated that contrary to speculations, while the airline’s international services were suspended, the domestic and regional operations had been up and running.
“We are keeping the home front busy, while waiting for the return of the other two aircraft. Since our 737-500 aircraft is on C-check, our schedule flight was affected; but rather than flying everywhere and making nonsense of the whole operations, we consolidated on the domestic operations with no challenge; we are flying 99.9 per cent capacity,” he added.
Bankole also stated that due to the high cost of aviation fuel in the country, the airline had spent about N22bn on the product in the last five years.
According to him, the high cost of aviation fuel is depleting airlines’ profit.
