THE Chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, said on Wednesday he was hopeful that the Virgin Nigeria Airways might be granted the right to fly directly to the United States this week.
Branson in an interview with journalists at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, shortly on arrival in the country, said talks with American authorities were beginning to yield positive results.
According to him, �Within the next two or three days, the airline will be permitted by the American authorities to begin a direct flight to the country from Nigeria.
�I think something positive will happen, and when it happens, Virgin Nigeria will operate directly to the United States�.
Branson, who described his airline�s adventure into the Nigerian market as highly successful, however, credited it to the people in the company.
Shortly after the inauguration of Virgin Atlantic, the US government had accused the Virgin Atlantic Airways, which holds a 49 per cent stake of owning Virgin Nigeria and insisted that it would not allow it to operate from Nigeria to US.
It noted that with the ownership structure, Virgin Atlantic was blocking efforts to liberalise the North Atlantic market to American carriers.
Meanwhile as a way out, Virgin Nigeria recently entered into partnership with Northwest American Airline actualise its operation on the Nigeria-US route.