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Passengers appear to be showing preference for the new entrant into the lucrative Lagos-London route, Arik Air, a Business Day investigation has shown.
Arik Air which entered the route with a new Airbus A340-500, according our investigation, is becoming the preferred airline by holiday makers who spoke with BusinessDay in Lagos and London.
Relatively new on international flight operation, Arik Air has one of the newest aircraft on the route, according to the passengers who also applauded the airline’s in-flight service and entertainment.

Across section of air passengers who spoke with BusinessDay expressed optimism that Arik will make the country proud, declaring the airline’s arrival on the route “a welcome development”.
One of the passengers who preferred anonymity said: “We now have what we can call our own Nigerian airline. We are very proud of the development”.
In an earlier comment on the operations of Arik on the London route, director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), told aviation correspondents that the airline had become a good alternative.
The NCAA boss remarked that he was shocked at passengers’ reaction, which he described as an indication that once Nigerian airlines can get their acts together passengers are willing to fly on their aircraft.
It would be recalled that Arik Air launched its Lagos-London-Lagos route on December 15, 2008 with a daily flight, arriving London in the evening after departing Lagos between 10a.m and 12 noon.
The airline commenced operation with an Airbus A340-500 aircraft, all leather seats with good seat pitch, which has caught the attention of air passengers.
The entrance of Arik Air on the Lagos-London-Lagos route has tremendously reduced the pressure on passengers who before now usually experienced difficulties returning to their base after the yuletide.
The busy schedules of airlines during the festive season would have left many passengers stranded for a week or two as was usually the case in previous years. However, air passengers were full of praise for the airline, describing the timing of commencement of operations between Lagos and London as perfect.
Kolawole Oni, a frequent traveller, who was seeing his family off at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos said: “It was tough, as all the airlines kept on saying they were fully booked.” He disclosed that it was a friend that advised him to try Arik Air to London.
“I just wish other airlines would be like this, bring in the latest equipment and cultured crew, we will all stop using these foreign carriers”, he said.
Another passenger, Chuka Nwankwo, said “I flew Arik down to Lagos, my brother, the flight was full, and the aircraft was superb”.
Nwankwo said he would be flying the airline back to London, saying that its coming to the route is a big help to the travelling public.
Omowumi Adeola, said, “the airline has shown that Nigerians can do it if we are serious. A lot of us would have been stranded after the holidays.” The arrival of Arik Air increased the number of Nigerian airlines on the Lagos-London route to three.

On February 3 2009, the JAL Group will start offering via its website a carbon offset program which will enable passengers using its flights to voluntarily offset the CO2 gases generated by their trips.

Whether it is to fly abroad, heat homes, commute to work, or just make dinner, people consume energy in their everyday lives and as a consequence produce CO2 emissions. Carbon offsetting is one of the ways people can reduce their own personal environmental footprint. By calculating the CO2 emissions generated by the things we do, it is possible to purchase ‘credits’ from a variety of emission reduction projects which wholly or partly decrease an equivalent amount of CO2 somewhere else in the world.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has teamed up with Recycle One, the Japanese agency of the CarbonNeutral Company to offer passengers a voluntary carbon offset program which gives them the option to offset the CO2 generated by their trips. The CarbonNeutral Company is the world’s leading carbon consulting and carbon offsetting company, and was one of the first companies to start offering a carbon offsetting scheme to individuals.

Passengers simply click on a banner on the homepage of JAL’s website which links to the ‘CO2 CARBON OFFSET x JAL’ micro-site provided by Recycle One. Here passengers can calculate the CO2 emissions generated by their whole journey using the calculator provided. The amount of CO2 emitted is determined by such factors as the distance of travel, aircraft type, fuel burn, passenger load factors, and passenger to cargo ratios. The class of travel is only taken into consideration on flights of more than 3,000km. Calculations are estimated amounts derived from a formula established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which has been adopted by airlines around the world.

Then passengers choose a sustainable development project they would like to support, purchasing ‘credits’ to offset all or part of the CO2 emissions generated by their planned journey. They can select from around 10 projects being conducted worldwide which are focused on clean energy technology, primarily wind power related-projects.

It is possible to travel completely carbon neutral by financially contributing to a project that will reduce elsewhere in the world the equivalent amount of CO2 generated by a journey. Alternatively, it is possible to offset 50% of a journey’s CO2 emissions or as much as is possible for JPY1, 000 (approx USD11.00)

Projects which customers can support utilize the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) carbon credits of the UN, an initiative under the Kyoto Protocol that allows industrialized countries to invest in emission reduction projects in developing countries. All CO2 reductions are certified by the UN, making the CO2 emission amounts used the most reliable in the world.

JAL decided to start offering the carbon offsetting program as part of its ongoing commitment to the environment, and in response to comments from customers who are deeply concerned about environmental protection and the prevention of global warming. The program is completely voluntary, so it us up to each passenger to decide if they would like to make a payment to offset the CO2 emissions of their journey in order to reduce their own footprint on the environment.

JAL & the Environment

For more than 15 years, Japan Airlines has been implementing a variety of measures designed to reduce and offset the impact its business activities have on the environment. It is targeting a 20% cut in the CO2 emissions per ATK of its fleet by 2010, compared to 1990 levels. It has already achieved nearly 16% reduction since 1990.

In partnership with Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and Honeywell’s UOP, Japan Airlines will be the first airline to conduct a demonstration flight using a sustainable biofuel primarily refined from the energy crop, camelina. The demo flight planned for January 30, 2009 is expected to bring the airline industry significantly closer to finding a sustainable biofuel that will help reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) generated by aviation, whilst also reducing the industry’s reliance on traditional petroleum-based fuels.

Fleet renewal through the introduction of more fuel efficient aircraft has been indispensable to the airline group achieving these CO2 emission cuts. Almost 30% of the aircraft in the JAL fleet have been delivered in the past five years as it has retired 90 older models. The airline still has outstanding orders for more than 80 new aircraft, including the super-advanced Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

JAL has been looking at its business from every angle conceivable and has been carrying out an extensive range of fuel consumption and weight reduction measures to increase the fuel efficiency and consequently reduce the CO2 emissions of each aircraft in its fleet. It has, for example, trimmed 2 gm off the weight of spoons and forks used onboard, been using lighter materials in the design of its cargo containers, and has been regularly cleaning the jet engines of its large and medium-size aircraft which improve engine performance by around 1 percent.

Not only is it endeavouring to reduce its own environmental footprint, but JAL is throwing its support and resources behind projects which will help in the wider battle against climate change and global warming. With the aim of preventing or containing wild fires through early detection, information gathering and analysis, JAL’s pilots flying over Siberia, Alaska and Indonesia have been reporting any fire outbreaks they spot, with more than 500 blazes reported in the past five years.

Since 1993, JAL has also been participating in a global warming observation project to monitor greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere using air sample collection and measuring equipment specially fitted on five JAL aircraft on international routes. The data collected using JAL aircraft is helping scientists better understand the causes and effects of global warming.

New Oxford to Jersey flights are being operated by Air Southwest for 2009 with Jersey-based C.I. Travel Group, it has been announced. Linking the historic University City with the Channel Islands for the first time, the service will operate every Saturday between 11 July and 12 September 2009 from Oxford Airport, located just seven miles from Oxford city centre.

Operated by Air Southwest, using a 50 seat Bombardier aircraft, the route will be sold exclusively by C.I. Travel Group’s well established brands including Airways Holidays, Discover Jersey and Channel Islands Travel Service. The route will also be available to Jersey hoteliers wanting to offer their own guests direct flights to the island.

Air Southwest deputy chief executive Mike Coombes said: “We are very pleased to be working with C.I. Travel Group in launching these new flights from Oxford to Jersey. C.I. Travel offer a great range of holidays on the beautiful island of Jersey, and the new flights direct from Oxford will mean it’s quick and convenient to get there.”

Robert Mackenzie, managing director of C.I. Travel Group added: “We are delighted to have concluded negotiations for the launch of a new service from Oxford in the summer of 2009. With many more UK holiday-takers deserting the Euro-zone in favour of a holiday closer to home, we believe that this new route will prove to be popular with both new and existing clients in the Oxford area.”

David de Carteret, Director of Jersey Tourism, welcomed the announcement of the new service: “This initiative is welcomed by everyone in Jersey’s tourism industry and adds yet another route to the network to the island. We look forward to working together to secure a successful first year of operation.”