Virgin Nigeria gets new name tomm at Murtala Muhammed Intl Airport, Lagos

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COME tomorrow, the country’s flag carrier airline, Virgin Nigeria will operate under a new identity, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic Airline’s exit from its technical management.Already, two of the airline’s aircraft, according to a reliable source, have already been painted in the new livery, and are expected to be flown into the country tomorrow, to signpost a new beginning for the airline.

The Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Captain Dapo Olumide is expected to unveil the new name at a press conference at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The change of name brings to an end the seeming frosty relationship between business mogul, Sir Richard Branson and the new management of the airline, despite the fact that Virgin Atlantic, owned by the maverick businessman, still owns 49 per cent equity in the airline.

Branson, it would be recalled, had threatened last year to withdraw his shares and support from the airline following Federal Government’s relocation of the airline’s operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, to the newly built Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2).

Piqued by the action of government, Branson wrote a strongly worded letter to President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, expressing his disappointment over government’s flouting of an agreement it signed with the airline at inception to make the MMIA its hub of operation.

But the government, convinced of its action, maintained that its decision was based purely on national security.

A source from the airline confirmed to The Guardian that a new name had already been found for the airline, and would be unveiled on tomorrow. The source however declined to disclose the new name, stressing that, “the new name will be known on Thursday (tomorrow)”.

Sources hinted The Guardian that the new name sounds more Nigerian than the Virgin brand, that will be acceptable to more traveling public.

Just last month, as a prelude to a new name, which Nigerians have been waiting eagerly for, the management of the airline, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, signed a technical service agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, which was a first step towards the plan by the carrier to drop the Virgin brand.

The airline had sought the assistance of the most profitable airline in Africa-Ethiopian Airlines, after Virgin Atlantic Airways stopped technical assistance to the airline.

The deal will allow Ethiopian Airline to service Boeing aircraft in the fleet of the Nigerian carrier, training of pilots, cabin crew and aircraft engineers, with a training network and capabilities.

Until now, the airline had been embroiled in financial challenges that threatened its existence, before the new management rescued it from collapse.

Olumide had recently, while briefing media executive in Lagos, disclosed that the carrier had a huge debt profile running into $200 million, stating that the airline’s long haul operations were no longer profitable, the reason for carrier’s concentration on regional routes.

He stated that Virgin Nigeria was recapitalised with $50 million, adding that at that time $50 million seemed sufficient, bearing in mind the reservation of routes that was given to the airline, which was a source of revenue.