NIGERIA: NORTH AMERICAN AIRLINES CHIEF SEES MARKET GROWING

UNCLAS LAGOS 000737 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: NORTH AMERICAN AIRLINES CHIEF SEES MARKET GROWING Sensitive But Unclassified; Handle Accordingly ¶1. (U) Summary: North American Airlines (NAA) Chief Henry Seymour says NAA's code share arrangement with Virgin Nigeria will continue until March 2008, when Virgin will begin flights to the United States. Delta Airlines begins flights to Nigeria in December and Continental Airlines hopes to begin Lagos-Houston and Abuja-Lagos-Newark flights. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Henry Seymour, Country Manager for North American Airlines (NAA),currently the only U.S. airline flying out of Nigeria, told Econoffs that few Virgin Nigeria (VN) passengers have taken advantage of NAA's direct flights to the United States under the VN-NAA code sharing arrangement. Except for few VN passengers from Douala, Accra, Kano and Abuja, the arrangement has yielded fewer passengers than anticipated. However, the arrangement will continue until March 2008 when VN begins to fly its own aircraft directly to the United States. ¶3. (U) NAA, which now operates three weekly direct flights to New York and Baltimore, hopes to increase its frequency to six flights per week. Seymour expects the market to grow, pushed along by competition from other U.S. carriers, like Delta Airlines which begins operations in December. According to Seymour, Delta has appointed Associated Airlines, a Nigerian company, to handle its airport operations while Five Star Travel Company will take charge of ticketing. ¶4. (U) Continental Airlines, which made an earlier unsuccessful attempt to enter the market, is trying again, Seymour said. Although currently operating out of Ghana, Continental is planning to operate a Lagos-Houston direct flight as well as an Abuja-Lagos-Newark flight in the near future, he said. Hutchinson