Chanchangi Airlines

Chanchangi

IATA 5B ICAO NCH Callsign CHANCHANGI
Founded	1994
Hubs	Murtala Mohammed International Airport
Focus cities	Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport,
Frequent-flyer program	SRT
Fleet size	1
Destinations	1
Parent company	Chanchangi Airlines (Nigeria) Limited
Headquarters	Kaduna, Nigeria
Key people	Alhaji Ahmadu Chanchangi (Chairman), Trevor Worthington (Managing Director)
Website	http://www.flychanchangiair.com/

Chanchangi Airlines Nigeria Limited is a privately owned and operated airline with its Administrative Head Office in Kaduna in Nigeria.^[1] It operates scheduled domestic passenger services. Its main base was Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, with hubs at Kaduna Airport, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Port Harcourt International Airport.^[2]

History

The airline was established on 5 January 1994 by Alhaji Chanchangi and started flight operations to and from Kaduna, Lagos, Owerri, Abuja and Port Harcourt on 2 May 1997. Services were operated using Boeing 727-200 aircraft, 3 Boeing 737-200 aircraft and 2 Boeing 737-300 aircraft were also acquired in 2009. Chanchangi Airlines won the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Corporate Merit Award for “Best Domestic Airline of the Year” for 1998, 1999 and 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004 it obtained route authorities for services to Abidjan, Accra, Dakar, Douala and Malabo. On 26 March 2006 services from Lagos to Accra were introduced, but have currently been suspended. The airline is owned by Alhaji Ahmadu Chanchangi (94%) and four other individuals holding a 1% stake each. It has 780 employees (at March 2007).^[2]

The Nigerian government set a deadline of April 30, 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded, in an effort to ensure better services and safety. The airline satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalization and was re-registered for operation.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) grounded Chanchangi Airlines on July 5, 2010, citing a regulation that no airline can operate with only one aircraft in service, which was the case with Chanchangi at the time of its closure.^[3] On October 21, 2010, Chanchangi Airlines resumed operations between Lagos and Abuja.

Destinations

Chanchangi Airlines serves the following destinations as of November 2010:

Nigeria

• Abuja - Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport
• Kaduna - Kaduna Airport
• Lagos - Murtala Mohammed International Airport Hub
• Port Harcourt - Port Harcourt International Airport

Charter Flights

Chanchangi Airlines has conducted charter flight both within and outside Nigeria. Some of its Charter partners include:

• The United Nations
• The Nigerian Army
• Armed Forces Command & Staff College, Jaji
• Nigerian Football Authority
• Getra in Equatorial Guinea

Incidents

• One of Chanchangi Airlines Boeing 727s crash landed (with a landing gear problem) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on 29 December 2004 after a flight from Port Harcourt. The 81 people on board were uninjured and there was no major damage to the plane. As a result the remaining 5 Boeing 727s were grounded to enable investigators to carry out in depth inspections on the aircraft. On 3 January 2005 the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) permitted the resumption of full flight operations.
• Following the crash of Sosoliso Airlines flight 1145 on December 10, 2005, President Olusegun Obasanjo grounded both Sosoliso and Chanchangi Airlines. Chanchangi's grounding was based on a report that its operations were unsafe. After passing inspections by Nigeria's aviation ministry, Chanchangi was allowed to resume operations on December 22, 2005.
• A Boeing 727 en route to Abuja was forced to return to Lagos on May 9 after the crew reported a problem with the aircraft's air conditioning system.
• On August 22, 2006, two tyres burst on a Boeing 727 with 98 passengers on board. The pilot reportedly made a hard landing to grip with the wet runway after a heavy rain at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. There were no casualties.
• Chanchangi suffered multiple safety incidents and near-accidents in mid/late 2007. A Kaduna-Lagos flight was aborted after an engine blade broke off about twenty minutes into the flight. In mid September, a Lagos-Abuja flight returned to Lagos after hydraulic leakages were discovered.
• On October 13, 2007, a Boeing 727 making a trip from Kaduna to Abuja en route to Lagos suffered a cockpit fire.
• On 20 August 2010, Chanchangi Flight 334, operated by Boeing 737-200 5N-BIF struck the localiser antenna and landed short of the runway at Kaduna Airport. Several passengers were slightly injured and the aircraft was substantially damaged. Chanchangi Airlines again suspended operations following the accident.^[4]

Fleet

The Chanchangi Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 5 July 2011 (2011 -07-05)^[update]):^[2]

• 1 Boeing 737-300 (operated by Jordan Aviation)

External links

	Nigeria portal
	Aviation portal

• Official website

References

1. ^ "Contacts." Chanchangi Airlines. Retrieved on 19 October 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 63. 2007-04-03. 
3. ^ "NCAAgrounds Chanchangi Airlines". Business Day. 5 July 2010. http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12443:ncaagrounds-chanchangi-airlines&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18. Retrieved 21 July 2010. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Chanchangi B732 at Kaduna on Aug 20th 2010, landed short of runway". Aviation Herald. http://avherald.com/h?article=42ff590a&opt=0. Retrieved 22 August 2010.