Overland Airways, one of Nigeria’s route developing airlines after many years of operating domestically is to venture into regional operations starting with Lome and Cotonou on the 12 of August this year.
The frontline scheduled and charter airline according to the Chief Operating Officer, Mrs Aanu Benson is determined to participate actively in regional socio-economic activities and integration in West Africa, providing smooth interconnectivity, facilitate a new business environment and boost tourism.
At a news conference in Lagos, Mrs. Benson said over the years, Overland Airways has successfully operated scheduled flights operation services to interconnect and open up hubs and remote economies within Nigeria since 2003 and operated chartered service within the country and the West Coast of Africa.
She noted that the airline will provide it premium services to their regional destinations, “while we provide easy and dependable access to investors, businesses, leisure travellers, students and government officials and the General travelling public to Cotonou and Lagos while feeding the various destinations in Nigeria”.
The Overland Chief Operating Officer explained that the expansion of Overland Airways to schedule regional flight operations is borne out of the airline’s commitment to provide services that would help to stimulate economic activities in Nigeria and the West Africa region, adding that the dare need to develop Nigeria’s and West Africa as economies places on them a responsibility to act fast and professionally, as this is part of their efforts to foster economic integration within the region.
“The West Africa region with a population of nearly 400 million people with diverse cultures and tourism sites is full of untapped trade, business opportunities which Nigerians and other Nationals can take advantage of”.
“The launch of our regional flight is part of our painstaking and evolutionary growth and development of Overland Airways, over the past 16 years, Overland Airways has kept her promise of giving access to remote and under served economies in Nigeria which we are now taking to the international destinations”, she added.
Mrs. Benson attributed the support of stakeholders to the success of the airline over the past 16.
“This is a feat we have achieved with the support of the industry stakeholders including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN our esteemed customers and off course the media.
“Today, Overland Airways is the long serving, most consistent Nigerian airline providing uninterrupted scheduled flights service in Nigeria over the past 16 years, despite the challenges in the operating environment”.
She said the Lagos-Lome flights will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, the flights will depart Lagos at 19.00, arrive Cotonou at 19.25, and depart Cotonou at 20.00 to arrive Lome at 20.30, also flights will depart Lome at 21.00 to arrive in Lagos at 21.45.
Commenting on inflight entertainment and on- time performance, Mrs. Benson said at Overland Airways, they take on-time performance very seriously, the comfort and safety of their passengers.
“We are aware of the fact that a lot of these flights would be connecting flights for several of our passengers, on -time performance is one of the key success factors by any airline the world over that’s the industry standard and we are going to work very hard and towards that. And in terms of our fleet, that is most important with the fact that fleet aircraft are well maintained, our aircraft are tied in deliberately to our business model which is our flights from Lagos to Cotonou. Our in-flights, our service is comfortable and peaceful as well for the passengers, you can also see our cabin crew, we are very well trained, we are going to do our very best to give the passengers what they think, they deserve”.
“We in Overland is offering our passenger safe, reliable, comfortable flights direct out of Lagos into Cotonou and into Lome and back, at the end of the day, we will serve the passenger better and have more choices and more alternative to chose from”.
Mrs. Aanu Benson also emphasised on the airline’s commitment to serve the economy and the customers. “We invite our customers to enjoy our premium services as we expand into the region to enable our current and new customers enjoy the Overland Airways experience in the region. We will continue to provide our services, and we are here to serve you”.
Overland Airways attained the IATA Operational Safety Audit Registration which lists Overland Airways among world-class airlines that operate with excellent global safety standards. The Airline has successfully renewed its IOSA Registration.
Overland is a Member Airline of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which is made up of 280 airlines that control 83% of global air passenger traffic.
The Airline operates scheduled domestic flight services within Nigeria called “Business Flyer” and has succeeded in bringing air transportation to more hinterland areas of Nigeria. Its routes in Nigeria include Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Ilorin, Akure, Dutse, Minna, Bauchi, Asaba and Jalingo.
It operates a fleet of modern equipment and facilities to provide high standard of service. Overland Airways has a fleet of 9 modern aircraft comprised of ATR-42s, ATR-72s and Beechcraft 1900Ds.