Bellview Airlines

Infobox Airline
airline=Bellview
logo=Bellview-air.gif
logo_size=150px
fleet_size=5
destinations=15
IATA=B3
ICAO=BLV
callsign=BELLVIEW AIRLINES
parent=Bellview Airlines Nig. Ltd.
founded=1992
headquarters=Lagos, Nigeria
key_people=Tunde Yusuf (Chairman), Kayode Odukoya (CEO)
hubs=Murtala Mohammed International Airport
focus_cities=Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport
frequent_flyer=Premium Club
lounge=none
alliance=none
website= http://www.flybellviewair.com/

Bellview Airlines is an airline based in Lagos, Nigeria. It is privately owned and operates domestic, regional and international scheduled passenger services. Its main base is Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagoscite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | page= 85 | date= 2007-03-27] .

History

Bellview Travels Limited, a Lagos based travel agency metarmorphosed into Bellview Airlines in [1992] after it embarked on executive charter operations with a Yakovlev [Yak-40] . In 1993 it began scheduled domestic passenger services using a leased Douglas DC-9-30. An affiliate company, Bellview Airlines (Sierra Leone) was established in 1995, but has since been merged back into the parent company. It has 308 employees.

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-capitalisation and was re-registered for operation. [ [http://www.nigeria.gov.ng/NR/exeres/B30C7654-36D9-4C57-837C-1EAB4A103091.htm?id=637 Nigeria Direct] 2 May 2007]

Destinations

Bellview Airlines operates domestic scheduled services linking Lagos with three cities, as well as regional services to 10 destinations in Central and West Africa. It also operates long-haul services between Lagos and London and Johannesburg.

Bellview Airlines operates the following services (at May 2008):

Africa

* Cameroon
** Douala (Douala International Airport)
* Côte d'Ivoire
** Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport)
* Gabon
** Libreville (Libreville International Airport)
* The Gambia
** Banjul (Banjul International Airport)
* Ghana
** Accra (Kotoka International Airport)
* Guinea
** Conakry (Conakry International Airport)
* Liberia
** Monrovia (Roberts International Airport)
* Nigeria
** Abuja (Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport)
** Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport)
** Kano (Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport)
** Port Harcourt (Port Harcourt International Airport)
* Senegal
** Dakar (Dakar-Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport)
* Sierra Leone
** Freetown (Lungi International Airport)
* South Africa
** Johannesburg (OR Tambo International Airport)

Asia

*Saudi Arabia
**Jeddah [starts 09 November]

Europe

* United Kingdom
** London (London Heathrow Airport)

Incidents and accidents

*On October 22, 2005, Bellview Airlines Flight 210, a Boeing 737 aircraft with 117 people on board, crashed shortly after taking off from Lagos en route to the Nigerian capital Abuja. Early reports from Oyo state government officials claimed that at least half of those on board survived the crash, but later retracted that statement saying that that “the latest reports coming to us say that all the people on the plane died.” Confusion at the crash site was given as a cause for the mistaken figure. CNN reports that poor weather may have contributed to the crash. The crash inquiry is being aided by officials from Boeing and the United States National Transportation Safety Board. The flight data recorders have not yet been recovered, though pieces of their casing have been found. Angus Ozoka, a Nigerian official leading the crash investigation, said he believes the recorders were destroyed in the impact. Bellview resumed flights on October 24, 2005. [ [http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/10/23/worldupdates/2005-10-23T120612Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-220602-4&sec=Worldupdates] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5363484,00.html Lagos crash 2005] ]

*On December 19, 2005, a Bellview flight made an emergency landing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. The Boeing 737 was on a flight from Lagos to Freetown, Sierra Leone when crew detetected a hydraulic systems failure. The following day, Nigerian authorities ordered all Bellview flights grounded and revoked Bellview's license. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4544654.stm] An aviation task force changed the revocation to a suspension on December 22, 2005, giving Bellview the possibility of operating again once their equipment and procedures pass task force inspection. [ [http://allafrica.com/stories/200601030379.html Emergency landing] ] . Bellview has since been re-authorized and resumed flight operations.

Fleet

The Bellview Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at May 2008):

*3 Boeing 737-200
*2 Boeing 767-200ER

As of February 2008, the average age of the Bellview Airlines fleet is 25 years ( [http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Bellview%20Airlines.htm] ).

External links

* [http://www.flybellviewair.com/ Bellview Airlines]

References