Nigerians going to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will no longer be at the mercy of foreign airlines who have monopolised the Jeddah route. This was disclosed by the Managing Director of MedView Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole during the inaugural flight of the airline to Jeddah.

According to Bankole, Nigerians who travel to Jeddah for the Umrah or business have had to endure the tortuous journey of going to the home countries of these airlines for a stop-over, where they might be transferred to another aircraft for onward journey to their final destination, Jeddah Airport. Aside that, Nigerians have had to also endure arbitrary air fares charged by these foreign carriers as they had no choice if they must travel to Saudi Arabia.

Med View Airline

These choices, Bankole said , have now been given to Nigerian travellers with the launch of Jeddah route by MedView Airline. Nigerians now have the choice of travelling straight, non-stop from Nigeria to Jeddah, a journey of less than six hours flight time which has hitherto taken them more than eight hours because of stop-overs.

The airline has been allocated four slots weekly at the King Abdulazeez International Airport, Jeddah, but would commence with two.

The Managing Director of the airline, however, disclosed that the new Jeddah flights would be operated on Sundays and Thursdays and continue throughout summer and Ramadan, saying: “This is a golden opportunity for our people to enjoy direct flight to Jeddah without any hassle.” He commended the Kaduna State Government for its support to the airline as well as the tour operators who believe in the airline’s capability to offer better alternative to foreign carriers.

Speaking also about the Jeddah route, Med-View’s Executive Director, Technical Services, Lookman Animashaun said the airline deployed a Boeing 737-800, but planned to use a bigger aircraft, Boeing 767-300, with increasing demand.

Animashaun noted that like its London route, it would attract passengers with lower fares.   He said Med-View entered the route as a Nigerian flag carrier to “supply the missing link; reasonable fare, good customer care and excellent in-flight entertainment.”

“We have an approval for four slots weekly, but we will start with two. The traffic will improve with time. The only competitor we have on that route is Saudi Air, which flies from Kano Airport. Other airlines, such as Egypt Air, Kenya Airways and others fly to Jeddah.

“This is one good thing Nigerians will love. Under four hours, you are in Jeddah from Kano and within five and a half hours, you are in Jeddah from Lagos. Our luggage allowance is also a major factor for us. We are offering 64kg (32kg each) for our economy passengers;  and 96kg for business class passengers,” Animashaun added.

The Chief of Staff to Kaduna State Governor, Mohammed Bashir Seidu who was on board the flight to Jeddah alongside some senior government officials, said the state is very proud of Med-View Airline.

He said, “Med-View is the pride of the nation now and Kaduna state is more proud than any state or even Nigeria because earlier before now, the Kaduna airport was virtually empty without any activity.

“Then after the flights diversion from Abuja to Kaduna early this year, airlines began to fly the routes. Med-View started operating the domestic flights. Now all of a sudden, the airline has inaugurated international flight from the airport. We are proud of that. Activities have resumed in Kaduna. You have seen economic activities being boosted, everything is now moving. We are really very happy.”

He described the airline flight operations as excellent and prompt. “I was on board also from Abuja to Dubai and I’ve seen the operation is perfect, very unlike the tradition of some airlines that keep shifting the flight time. I can say it’s wonderful. It was prompt”, he said.