Chanchangi repositions for e-ticketing

Shola Adekola, Lagos

AS the deadline given to airlines to meet the May, 2008 deadline for the embrace of the electronic ticketing almost expires, nearly all airlines in the country have embraced the more reliable technology.

Among such airlines which have since met the requirement are Bellview, Aerocontractors, Virgin Nigeria and partially Arik Air. However while other airlines are also struggling to meet up even though they operate on the domestic scene, Chanchangi in particular is not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring that it is not left out of the wind of change.

Sources within the airline recently disclosed that already, the airline and Virgin Nigeria were at theAfrican Airlines Association (AFRAA) programme meant to deliberate on the need to embrace the e-ticketing policy on the continent.

Chanchangi was said to have dispatched one of its senior officials to South Africa to participate at the programme to facilitate the subsequent embrace of the e-ticketing by Chanchangi.

Meanwhile,one of the four new aircraft the airline’s management has ordered for will be arriving the country by the end of the month.

The four Boeing 737-400 aircraft worth $40 million was ordered and paid for following the determination of the airline management to replace its fleet with sophisticated ones, courtesy of the domestication of the Cape Town Convention by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

While one of the planes arrives this month end, the three others are to arrive subsequently. It will be recalled that the airline had earlier obtained a $50 million loan from one of its bankers to reposition the airline operations.
Speaking earlier,the managing director of the airline, Trevor Worthington, had disclosed to some aviation journalists in his office that the Boeing 737-400 planes would be delivered in batches to the airline.

Worthington, who on the occasion said safety was the airline’s watchword, stated that the Boeing 727 planes in the airline’s fleet will be phased out by the end of the year, leaving the airline with only new generation planes.