Worried by safety of local Nigerian airlines, some of the wealthy businessmen in the country are taking the unusual step of flying the 300 miles from Lagos to Abuja via London.


That’s nearly 6,000 flight miles and 12 hours on board a plane, not to mention time spent in London’s airports, to avoid a 300-mile one hour domestic flight, reports Platts newswire.

In June, a domestic Nigerian flight operated by Dana Air crashed, killing 153 people on board and highlighting safety concerns in Nigeria’s rapidly-expanding domestic airline business.

The Lagos-London-Abuja marathon is, of course, a rarity. Most travelers in Nigeria concerned with flying will either not travel or find other land-based modes of transit. Despite the small uptick in demand for Europe-Africa flights, the overall impact on jet demand has been negative.

These concerns over air safety come at a time when civil unrest in Nigeria has been high, with many attacks on high-profile targets. This, too, has taken its toll on demand for flights, both domestically and internationally.

This lack of demand has seen cargoes of jet fuel, which are imparted to West Africa to meet local demand, start to amass in floating storage. Inventories are typically held at sea with about 200,000mt on the water at a given time. But the current state of demand, weakened by flying fears, has seen the amount of fuel offshore more than double, traders estimate.

The International Air Transportation Association and the International Civil Aviation Organisation both have pledged support to Nigerian airlines to help them improve their safety records. Until that happens and confidence in local air travel returns, demand is expected to be low, and at least some travellers will be stacking up the frequent flyer miles.

SimonAndal: Hey, they've got the money, they've got the distrust in the Nigerian infrastructure, and they love their lives. The saying goes "If you've got it, flaunt it." Like I do with my smack-a-licious arse.
And "if you don't got it, flaunt it." Like most females with push-up bras.

Kx: Unbelievable.

For the aviation experts.
Cant a chartered helicopter do Abuja -Lagos distance?

BigBenoski: hehehe chics and upgrades! But come o, any technology 2 'flaunt' a 'flat screen ars' yet? I gat ds friend with an lcd ars and it worries d ars out of her

SimonAndal:
_
Of course there is. Ask any Kardashian what they did to their butt. Male and female alike.

inspired_m: Lagos to Abuja Via Heathrow

Abuja To Port Harcourt Via Gatwick.

If you can afford that Route for a 300 miles trip, then you should afford a private Helicopter

afam4eva:
Abi oo.

I wonder what they would do if they needed to get to any of these cities very urgently.

freecocoa: Blatant lie jorh.

freecocoa: Blatant lie jorh.

BigBenoski: my thought exactly. With about 600k, one can even hire a helicopter for the whole day but the question is. . .are the helicopters immune to the dana syndrome??

maclatunji:

It is possible, have you not heard of fly from Lagos to London and return to Lagos the same day?

Why do you think some of us are unforgiving in our criticism. The absurdity in this country is beyond belief.

afam4eva: Even though it's for the safety of their lives, i think it's very stupendous. Chineke me.

tpapi: go n check up d real meanin of d word stupendous