A day trip to Lagos, Nigeria (Virgin Nigeria inaugural + LH new Biz-class)
Jul 31, 2005, 8:34 pm
#1
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A day trip to Lagos, Nigeria (Virgin Nigeria inaugural + LH new Biz-class)
CAUTION : This report contains a lot of tasteless jokes about Nigerians, Germany and Sir Richard Branson. If you are easily offended by any of these, well, its time get a sense of humour.
It all began when I got an email from a guy named Godfrey Ubogu claiming to be the administrator of my long lost cousin's estate who had been tragically killed in a car accident....
Seriously though, I had to journey to Lagos for work. I had three sets of meetings all scheduled in the Ikeja area, so I figured a day trip would take care of things nicely and save me an overnight stay in one of the world's most dangerous (and expensive) cities.
Virgin Nigeria - The ultimate branding oxymoron. I pity this airline. You just know their marketing material is going to be appropriated as an advertisement for the Milan vice industry. Still, the $99 promo fare between Accra and Lagos was significantly cheaper than anything I've seen the Milan vice industry offer so I bought myself a seat on their inaugural service.
The day before my trip, I read through a briefing document on the people I was due to meet up with and came across a manager named H. Salami in their office, with the H. standing for Hyder. So what exactly do you call a guy whose name is "Hyder Salami"? And how do you keep a straight face doing it? Thankfully, he wasn't on my list of people to meet so I was spared this ultimate test in international diplomacy.
I showed up at Kotoka International Airport at 7am for my 755am flight armed with only my passport, ticket and laptop. The Virgin Nigeria counters were rather easy to find as they were festooned with a bunch of balloons to mark their inaugural service - but strangely enough the lack of any other visible signage. It seems that the airport authority hasn't yet included the JPG image of their logo into the display system so they sat under a board simply saying LAGOS - VK 801. Maybe its just me, but I always figured that a departure to Lagos should carry flight number 419....
With only about a half-dozen passengers booked on this inaugural service, I had no problem obtaining my choice of seat. Heck, I had no problem obtaining my choice of row. I headed off to the Virgin Nigeria office to try and catch up with one of their execs I knew was in town for the launch party the previous night but alas he had already left to meet the inbound arrival.
Lagos is far-and-away the best served route from here and there were arrivals by an Aerocontractors Dash-8, Bellview 737, Ethiopian 767 and Virgin Nigeria A320 all within a few minutes of each other. In addition Ethiopian had a second 767 doing a crew change on a UN charter to Liberia, plus a Monarch A300 in from Gatwick, a MEA A330 departing for Beirut and the domestic departures by Antrak Air and CTK Citylink to Kumasi. Quite a bustling morning all-in-all.
We boarded just a few minutes before scheduled departure time and I was surprised to find about 10 crew members jamming the front half of the aircraft to welcome us on board. It appeared that we had an ecclectic mix of Bulgarian, Nigerian and British crew on board today. The purser (with a very British accent) made an announcement welcoming us on board the "historic inaugural service", after which the Bulgarian lead Flight Attendant took over to narrate the safety demonstration which was pantomimed by the Nigerians. To top off the multicultural experience, the safety card carried the logo of Balkan Holidays and the interior signage was all in the Cyrillic alphabet. Looks like Virgin is going after the lucrative (albeit somewhat obscure) Russian tourist niche in West Africa.
It was a lovely morning and the Osu Castle and Liberation Square were clearly visible as we climbed out over the city and turned east once we crossed the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Lagos is only about 250 miles from Accra, but the minor inconvenience of two countries (Togo and Benin) in the middle restricts the ability to make the short trip by road. Flight time is barely 40 minutes though and aircraft rarely get up above 25000 feet, leaving wonderful views of the Atlantic on a clear day.
Virgin Nigeria advertise "hot refreshment service" on all flights, so I was looking forward to whatever snack they planned to provide on this short hop. I was unpleasantly surprised to see that it consisted of a pre-packaged egg salad sandwich, served with a cup of Coke at room temperature. Evidently the "hot refreshment" concept is simply a euphemism for "we forgot to upload the ice". Still, the flight passed quickly and relatively pleasantly and we were soon on final approach to the infamous runway 18L at Lagos airport.
Rather ironically for an airport infamous for the long and dangerous drive into the city, it is named after Murtala Muhammad, a former president who was assasinated while stuck in a traffic jam. Thankfully, my business associates had arranged for me to be met at planeside and I was quickly escorted through immigration without hassles and bundled into a waiting car for the quick drive to their offices.
A rather well choreographed day (especially so by West African standards) followed with each meeting flowing smoothly into the next and I got back to the airport around 3pm. I grabbed a quick meal of Jollof with chicken at the snack bar (not cheap at 1500 Naira) and then headed over to the Lufthansa office. They offer a daily service from Frankfurt to Accra via Lagos, and even though they don't have fifth freedom traffic rights between Nigeria and Ghana, non-revenue passengers are permitted to travel.
Checkin was rather rudimentary with the Duty Manager simply scribbling my surname, flight number and "C Class" on a blank boarding pass to get me through to the gates. With no scheduled departures at this hour, the immigration officers were quite chatty. Interestingly enough, the officers all work in pairs - presumably another one of President Obasanjo's attempts to get rid of the formerly institutionalised graft. The officer took a look at my entry stamp from the morning and seemed genuinely offended that I was heading back so quickly. I assured him that it was nothing personal and it was only that I had a 6pm meeting to make in Accra. It seemed to satisfy him this time but heaven help me on my next day trip if I draw his counter again!
Airside was deserted this early with only the recently arrived Air France 777 and a Bellview 737 carrying special "www.flybellviewair.com" titles parked at the gates. The new Bellview 767 was also parked with engine covers at the D-concourse during her off day between Mumbai and London flights. Finally, one of Lagos' icons was parked at the end of E-concourse like she always is, the wreck of the Hydro Air Cargo 747 that landed on the closed runway 18R in November 2003 and has been abandoned ever since.
As I chatted with the security officer from the German Embassy who was meeting the flight to collect the diplomatic pouch, we watched as D-AIKF splashed down on a very wet 18L, throwing up a huge spray as reversers deployed. Runway 18L is regarded by most aircrews in West Africa as extremely challenging in wet conditions. Since 18R has been shut down almost 2 years ostensibly for "resurfacing", there is incredible rubber buildup on 18L and a tendency for aircraft to hydroplane as a result. There had been multiple incidents of aircraft skidding off this runway in the previous few weeks and sadly, Lufthansa's own D-AIKH (only three months old) suffered severe damage when she skidded off that runway just a few days after this.
The airline industry is a small world. As I stood at the top of the jetway watching the inbound passengers disembark, I was surprised to hear a voice asking "Sean? Is that you?". It was an acquaintance of mine who worked for Lufthansa Cargo and was traveling to Lagos from Frankfurt on work. We chatted briefly until the Duty Manager waved to me that it was clear to board. Business Class had pretty much emptied itself at Lagos, so the Flight Attendant invited me to take whatever seat I wanted in the second cabin. Apart from me, there were two Lufthansa engineers joining the flight for the short hop over to Accra and they settled down in the row behind me.
This was my first time on board the new Lufthansa Business Class and I was quite impressed by the hi-tech seats. Their complexity and versatility was such that there was a seperate publication to guide passengers on their use and even after reading through that, there were still small things that I had overlooked. Doors closed and we pushed back early as the Flight Attendant came around and gave the three of us a private abbreviated safety briefing.
Alas, an early departure was not meant to be. This was the middle of the evening push and we had to hold short as a pair of vintage Chanchangi 727s, an Allied Air 727, EAS 737, Aerocontractors Dash 8, Swiss Sun A320, Virgin Nigeria A320, Albarka Air 737 and KLM MD-11 used the runway ahead of us. The highlight though was the sight of Ethiopian's ET-AIF landing on yet another UN charter mission. This old 767-200 had been parked for the last few years and was earmarked to be scrapped, but is now pulled back into service to assist strictly as a backup craft. She is the first and only 767-200 to be painted in Ethiopian's new livery and with her limited utility nowadays, a rare sight indeed.
It was almost 6pm local time, a good hour after we pushed back from the gate, when a very frustrated captain announced that we had finally received clearance to depart. We were airborne after a very short takeoff roll and levelled out at only 17000 feet for the 38 minute ride. The cabin crew really hustled to get their meal service complete during this short sector. In typical Lufthansa shorthaul tradition, I was even presented with two meal options - "EAT" or "DON'T EAT". I picked the former and received a ham/cheese sandwich with a Coke (this one with ice though). To be fair, there were also pastries and fruit available for those that were interested, but I was to meet friends for a Sushi dinner after my 6pm meeting so I didn't wan't to stuff myself too much.
Our low flight level today was interesting as we flew pretty much abeam from a thunderstorm in progress over Benin, giving an interesting perspective. Thankfully our flight was pretty smooth and we touched down in Accra just about 20 minutes late at 545pm local time. I was the first person off the aircraft and was immediately on the phone summoning the driver to meet me as I dashed across the tarmac into the arrivals area. Immigration quickly stamped me back into Ghana and the car pulled up just as I hurried out of the exit. I actually made it to my 6pm meeting on time in the end. Just goes to show, things CAN work smoothly in Africa when you plan well.
On a more serious note though, I have found that Nigerians tend to get stereotyped by many people as the con artists of the world thanks to the proliferation of 419 schemes and their consistent showing near the top of the world corruption ratings. Even in West Africa they tend to be the butt of every third joke. My personal experience with them has been only positive so far. They have extremely sharp business minds in general and like any group have their good and bad apples. Preident Obasanjo has made great strides against the endemic corruption that permeated throughout all levels of society and the nation will soon be (yet again) a regional economic force to reckon with. So please, don't take offense to any of my somewhat tasteless jokes in this report. After all, dark humour is the only way to keep yourself going when doing business in West Africa.
It all began when I got an email from a guy named Godfrey Ubogu claiming to be the administrator of my long lost cousin's estate who had been tragically killed in a car accident....
Seriously though, I had to journey to Lagos for work. I had three sets of meetings all scheduled in the Ikeja area, so I figured a day trip would take care of things nicely and save me an overnight stay in one of the world's most dangerous (and expensive) cities.
Virgin Nigeria - The ultimate branding oxymoron. I pity this airline. You just know their marketing material is going to be appropriated as an advertisement for the Milan vice industry. Still, the $99 promo fare between Accra and Lagos was significantly cheaper than anything I've seen the Milan vice industry offer so I bought myself a seat on their inaugural service.
The day before my trip, I read through a briefing document on the people I was due to meet up with and came across a manager named H. Salami in their office, with the H. standing for Hyder. So what exactly do you call a guy whose name is "Hyder Salami"? And how do you keep a straight face doing it? Thankfully, he wasn't on my list of people to meet so I was spared this ultimate test in international diplomacy.
I showed up at Kotoka International Airport at 7am for my 755am flight armed with only my passport, ticket and laptop. The Virgin Nigeria counters were rather easy to find as they were festooned with a bunch of balloons to mark their inaugural service - but strangely enough the lack of any other visible signage. It seems that the airport authority hasn't yet included the JPG image of their logo into the display system so they sat under a board simply saying LAGOS - VK 801. Maybe its just me, but I always figured that a departure to Lagos should carry flight number 419....
With only about a half-dozen passengers booked on this inaugural service, I had no problem obtaining my choice of seat. Heck, I had no problem obtaining my choice of row. I headed off to the Virgin Nigeria office to try and catch up with one of their execs I knew was in town for the launch party the previous night but alas he had already left to meet the inbound arrival.
Lagos is far-and-away the best served route from here and there were arrivals by an Aerocontractors Dash-8, Bellview 737, Ethiopian 767 and Virgin Nigeria A320 all within a few minutes of each other. In addition Ethiopian had a second 767 doing a crew change on a UN charter to Liberia, plus a Monarch A300 in from Gatwick, a MEA A330 departing for Beirut and the domestic departures by Antrak Air and CTK Citylink to Kumasi. Quite a bustling morning all-in-all.
We boarded just a few minutes before scheduled departure time and I was surprised to find about 10 crew members jamming the front half of the aircraft to welcome us on board. It appeared that we had an ecclectic mix of Bulgarian, Nigerian and British crew on board today. The purser (with a very British accent) made an announcement welcoming us on board the "historic inaugural service", after which the Bulgarian lead Flight Attendant took over to narrate the safety demonstration which was pantomimed by the Nigerians. To top off the multicultural experience, the safety card carried the logo of Balkan Holidays and the interior signage was all in the Cyrillic alphabet. Looks like Virgin is going after the lucrative (albeit somewhat obscure) Russian tourist niche in West Africa.
It was a lovely morning and the Osu Castle and Liberation Square were clearly visible as we climbed out over the city and turned east once we crossed the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Lagos is only about 250 miles from Accra, but the minor inconvenience of two countries (Togo and Benin) in the middle restricts the ability to make the short trip by road. Flight time is barely 40 minutes though and aircraft rarely get up above 25000 feet, leaving wonderful views of the Atlantic on a clear day.
Virgin Nigeria advertise "hot refreshment service" on all flights, so I was looking forward to whatever snack they planned to provide on this short hop. I was unpleasantly surprised to see that it consisted of a pre-packaged egg salad sandwich, served with a cup of Coke at room temperature. Evidently the "hot refreshment" concept is simply a euphemism for "we forgot to upload the ice". Still, the flight passed quickly and relatively pleasantly and we were soon on final approach to the infamous runway 18L at Lagos airport.
Rather ironically for an airport infamous for the long and dangerous drive into the city, it is named after Murtala Muhammad, a former president who was assasinated while stuck in a traffic jam. Thankfully, my business associates had arranged for me to be met at planeside and I was quickly escorted through immigration without hassles and bundled into a waiting car for the quick drive to their offices.
A rather well choreographed day (especially so by West African standards) followed with each meeting flowing smoothly into the next and I got back to the airport around 3pm. I grabbed a quick meal of Jollof with chicken at the snack bar (not cheap at 1500 Naira) and then headed over to the Lufthansa office. They offer a daily service from Frankfurt to Accra via Lagos, and even though they don't have fifth freedom traffic rights between Nigeria and Ghana, non-revenue passengers are permitted to travel.
Checkin was rather rudimentary with the Duty Manager simply scribbling my surname, flight number and "C Class" on a blank boarding pass to get me through to the gates. With no scheduled departures at this hour, the immigration officers were quite chatty. Interestingly enough, the officers all work in pairs - presumably another one of President Obasanjo's attempts to get rid of the formerly institutionalised graft. The officer took a look at my entry stamp from the morning and seemed genuinely offended that I was heading back so quickly. I assured him that it was nothing personal and it was only that I had a 6pm meeting to make in Accra. It seemed to satisfy him this time but heaven help me on my next day trip if I draw his counter again!
Airside was deserted this early with only the recently arrived Air France 777 and a Bellview 737 carrying special "www.flybellviewair.com" titles parked at the gates. The new Bellview 767 was also parked with engine covers at the D-concourse during her off day between Mumbai and London flights. Finally, one of Lagos' icons was parked at the end of E-concourse like she always is, the wreck of the Hydro Air Cargo 747 that landed on the closed runway 18R in November 2003 and has been abandoned ever since.
As I chatted with the security officer from the German Embassy who was meeting the flight to collect the diplomatic pouch, we watched as D-AIKF splashed down on a very wet 18L, throwing up a huge spray as reversers deployed. Runway 18L is regarded by most aircrews in West Africa as extremely challenging in wet conditions. Since 18R has been shut down almost 2 years ostensibly for "resurfacing", there is incredible rubber buildup on 18L and a tendency for aircraft to hydroplane as a result. There had been multiple incidents of aircraft skidding off this runway in the previous few weeks and sadly, Lufthansa's own D-AIKH (only three months old) suffered severe damage when she skidded off that runway just a few days after this.
The airline industry is a small world. As I stood at the top of the jetway watching the inbound passengers disembark, I was surprised to hear a voice asking "Sean? Is that you?". It was an acquaintance of mine who worked for Lufthansa Cargo and was traveling to Lagos from Frankfurt on work. We chatted briefly until the Duty Manager waved to me that it was clear to board. Business Class had pretty much emptied itself at Lagos, so the Flight Attendant invited me to take whatever seat I wanted in the second cabin. Apart from me, there were two Lufthansa engineers joining the flight for the short hop over to Accra and they settled down in the row behind me.
This was my first time on board the new Lufthansa Business Class and I was quite impressed by the hi-tech seats. Their complexity and versatility was such that there was a seperate publication to guide passengers on their use and even after reading through that, there were still small things that I had overlooked. Doors closed and we pushed back early as the Flight Attendant came around and gave the three of us a private abbreviated safety briefing.
Alas, an early departure was not meant to be. This was the middle of the evening push and we had to hold short as a pair of vintage Chanchangi 727s, an Allied Air 727, EAS 737, Aerocontractors Dash 8, Swiss Sun A320, Virgin Nigeria A320, Albarka Air 737 and KLM MD-11 used the runway ahead of us. The highlight though was the sight of Ethiopian's ET-AIF landing on yet another UN charter mission. This old 767-200 had been parked for the last few years and was earmarked to be scrapped, but is now pulled back into service to assist strictly as a backup craft. She is the first and only 767-200 to be painted in Ethiopian's new livery and with her limited utility nowadays, a rare sight indeed.
It was almost 6pm local time, a good hour after we pushed back from the gate, when a very frustrated captain announced that we had finally received clearance to depart. We were airborne after a very short takeoff roll and levelled out at only 17000 feet for the 38 minute ride. The cabin crew really hustled to get their meal service complete during this short sector. In typical Lufthansa shorthaul tradition, I was even presented with two meal options - "EAT" or "DON'T EAT". I picked the former and received a ham/cheese sandwich with a Coke (this one with ice though). To be fair, there were also pastries and fruit available for those that were interested, but I was to meet friends for a Sushi dinner after my 6pm meeting so I didn't wan't to stuff myself too much.
On a more serious note though, I have found that Nigerians tend to get stereotyped by many people as the con artists of the world thanks to the proliferation of 419 schemes and their consistent showing near the top of the world corruption ratings. Even in West Africa they tend to be the butt of every third joke. My personal experience with them has been only positive so far. They have extremely sharp business minds in general and like any group have their good and bad apples. Preident Obasanjo has made great strides against the endemic corruption that permeated throughout all levels of society and the nation will soon be (yet again) a regional economic force to reckon with. So please, don't take offense to any of my somewhat tasteless jokes in this report. After all, dark humour is the only way to keep yourself going when doing business in West Africa.
Last edited by B747-437B; Aug 1, 2005 at 3:40 am
Jul 31, 2005, 9:32 pm
#4
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I love the pic of the scrapped Air Cargo jet. I love how it's a 'icon' of the airport.
Maybe they should put it for sale on eBay like the jet that's currently the butt of jokes on OMNI right now (see the "Flyertalk Airline thread")
Maybe they should put it for sale on eBay like the jet that's currently the butt of jokes on OMNI right now (see the "Flyertalk Airline thread")
Aug 1, 2005, 2:58 am
#6
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Definitely an out of the ordinary report that I enjoyed a lot - thanks for writing it up! I am glad by the way that you did not travel to Nigeria in the matter of Godfrey Ubogu. I'd hate to split the inheritance with you! 
Aug 1, 2005, 5:42 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Posts: 2,674
Nice report ^ . I have recently swithced from BA to Air France for my flights in and out of Lagos, with transit in Europe. Air France lands before dark inbound Lagos.
I am surprised you were allowed to take pictures at the airport. Were you given any hassles by law enforcement types? Usually taking pictures of the airport and/or government buildings is considerered a no-no in Nigeria.
Thanks for the tip on Lufthansa and the new planes. I understand, that like KLM and Air France, one can stopover in Frankfurt for unlimited time with no additional cost added to business class fares [unlike BA and London
]. My next trip over, I may choose Lufthansa so I can get back to the Spessart mountains for a few days 
.
M8
I am surprised you were allowed to take pictures at the airport. Were you given any hassles by law enforcement types? Usually taking pictures of the airport and/or government buildings is considerered a no-no in Nigeria.
Thanks for the tip on Lufthansa and the new planes. I understand, that like KLM and Air France, one can stopover in Frankfurt for unlimited time with no additional cost added to business class fares [unlike BA and London
]. My next trip over, I may choose Lufthansa so I can get back to the Spessart mountains for a few days .M8
Last edited by Martinis at 8; Aug 1, 2005 at 5:56 am
Aug 1, 2005, 6:17 am
#10
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B747-437B, I've really come to love reading your reports now, particularly that photo's are available. Thanks for letting us know about places I've only ever heard of, but never thought to travel to.
Aug 1, 2005, 7:03 pm
#11
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Aug 2, 2005, 7:05 am
#14
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Thanks for that report B747-437 ^ ^ . It brought back a lot of memories. Last time I was in Lagos was back in early '98. Back then I did quiet a bit of flying domestically. That was REALLY exciting 
.
I will be making a trip (or two) to Nigeria within the next 6 - 12 months (not sure when exactly). Maybe we can have a quick FT do as it seems we have at least a few other regulars to Nigeria .
.I will be making a trip (or two) to Nigeria within the next 6 - 12 months (not sure when exactly). Maybe we can have a quick FT do as it seems we have at least a few other regulars to Nigeria
.
