Bobby Bryan, Commercial Director, East and West Africa, Delta Air Lines (middle) flanked by Salami Omeiza, Station Manager, Delta Air Lines (left) and Sefia Emuejevoke, General Manager, Skylogistics Limited (right) during the Delta Air Lines media lunch in Lagos
The Commercial Director, East and West Africa of Delta Air Lines, Bobby Bryan at a media lunch in Lagos today has reaffirmed the airline committment to the Nigerian market .
Speaking at the media parley at Renaissance hotel in Ikeja Lagos, Bryan stated that despite the recession, foreign exchange problem, Delta Air Lines is in Nigeria to stay.
He said, “the African continent and Nigerian market remain a continued area of focus for Delta as the airline will continue to adapt, fly and grow in Nigeria”
He disclosed that, since the inception of the airline in Nigeria in 2007, the airline has carried almost one million passengers between Nigeria and United States.
He said the attainment of one million passengers on the Nigerian/US route is a milestone the airlines will soon celebrate.
Bryan said the airline feel important flying to the country because Nigeria is a strong market for Delta Air Lines.
Speaking further, Bryan noted, “This is an important year as we celebrate our 10th anniversary of service to the African continent. Back in December 2006, Delta launched services to Johannesburg, Dakar and Accra, becoming the only U.S. airline to operate scheduled flights between Africa and the United States since the 1980s”.
“Delta is focussed on deploying Radio Frequency Identification, RFID, which is a baggage tracking technology. Delta customers can now track their bag’s last scanned location on the Fly Delta mobile app. The new map enhancement builds on new RFID bag tags and the roll out of RFID tracking technology at 84 airports in the U.S. All domestic stations now offer map view of the bag’s journey and international stations will receive this technology”, he added.
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On service delivery, Bryan proudly stated that, “Delta Airline is ranked no 1 for on-time arrivals, fewest cancellations & fewest mishandled baggage among U.S. global airlines”
“So far this year, Delta has achieved 200 perfect mainline completion factor days, beating the total of 161 set in 2015 and more than any other airline. We have a strong on-time performance for our Lagos to Atlanta service.
“For the September quarter, DL delivered a 99 percent mainline completion factor including 51 days with zero mainline cancellations. DL and Delta Connection combined delivered 22 brand-perfect days.
The commercial director East and West Africa of Delta Air Lines added that the airline will be rolling Delta Premium in 2017.
He said though the airline still has trapped funds in Nigeria, it is coping with the situation in the country.
Bryan while thanking the Nigerian government for her efforts in getting some of the airlines trapped funds in the country out, he urged the government to continue helping so that the airline will continue their operation in the country.
He attributed the sustainability of their operations in Nigeria to strong market, incredible Nigerian staff, commitment to the market.
The commercial director East and West Africa of Delta Air Lines said the demand for travellers has not dropped, as the number of people desiring to travel has not dropped but has rather increased.
Bryan explained that the airline is coping with the scarcity of Aviation fuel, as the effect on its operation is minimal. “We’ve not cancelled flights for once since the scarcity became worse. We works with varieties of Jet A1 suppliers and also plan ahead to keep up our operations in the midst of the scarcity”.
On their major challenges, Bryan observed that the major problem the airline is grappling with is that of Forex after which every other things flow from it.
He disclosed further that Delta is one of the airlines running the best operations in the industry, offering Wifi services on its international flights including from Nigeria to US.
“Atlanta is Delta’s hometown and it is also the world’s largest hub. It provides a wealth of onward connections and it offers an important link between Nigeria and the U.S. On Delta we can pretty much take you were you need to go in the United States,” he added.
He added also that the airline has achieved 200 perfect mainline completion factor days, beating the total of 161 set in 2015 and more than any other airline.
The commercial director East and West Africa of Delta noted that the airline has a strong on-time performance for its Lagos to Atlanta service
