The United Kingdom Government has given approval to Arik Air to begin scheduled operations to London through the Heathrow Airport.
A statement by the airline�s Media Officer, Mr. Adebanji Ola, said that the news of the permit was broken by the Chairman, Mr. Joseph Arumemi-Johnson, at a general meeting with the staff and management in Lagos on Saturday.
According to Arumemi-Johnson, with the granting of the highly coveted Heathrow slot by the British aviation authorities, the airline will commence direct flights into the UK by November this year.
�I am happy to announce to you that we have been granted four slots at Heathrow Airport but we are still pushing for more so that we can fly to London every day of the week,� the Arik boss said,
It will be recalled that discussions had been going on between Nigeria and the UK government on the need to allow the Nigerian carriers that had been designated on the Lagos-London route, to fly into Heathrow instead of Gatwick or Stanstead airports.
In preparation for its first international flight to London, Arumemi-Johnson disclosed that Arik would take delivery of three brand new Airbus A340-500 aircraft from October, adding that the first two of wide bodied aircraft were due in the country by October and the third one in December.
�We are already discussing the configuration of the aircraft with Airbus. We expect to have 30 first class and 230 economy seat configuration�, the Arik Chairman said.
Arumemi-Johnson hinted that in order to consolidate the business relationship between it and the France-based aircraft manufacturer, it was expected that the latest plane in its service, the A380 super jumbo, would be coming to the country on a demonstration flight.