United Nigeria Airlines is intending to open transatlantic services this summer, with Turkish carrier Air Anka poised to offer capacity for the proposed routes.
The Nigerian airline’s chair, Obiora Okonkwo, stated during a 12 February briefing – commemorating United Nigeria’s fifth anniversary – that the carrier “will fly direct to New York” by the end of the second quarter.
Okonkwo had indicated that the operation would be conducted using Airbus A330s in co-operation with a Turkish carrier.
This appears to be backed up by a submission to US regulators by Turkish operator Air Anka, which is planning charters linked to this summer’s World Cup football tournament in North America.
Air Anka formally filed, on 6 February, for authorisation from the US Department of Transportation to carry out charter services.
The filing states that Air Anka proposes to start US operations with a series of charters from Nigeria under a “wet-lease co-operative arrangement” with United Nigeria, and specifically highlights the Lagos-New York route.
Air Anka plans to start operations with A330-200s – identifying TC-NYP as the likely airframe to be deployed – and says it “may further expand the proposed services” and broaden to include scheduled flights in the future.
The Istanbul-based airline is a relatively new company, having secured its air operator’s certificate in August 2022.
It uses three A330s, specialising in long-haul charter and wet-lease. The airline conducts such operations for the Saudi Arabian budget carrier Flyadeal.
Air Anka is owned by a private joint-stock company, ODIN Havacilik Turizm, whose ownership, in turn, is split 90:10 between two Turkish citizens.
United Nigeria is also undertaking its own fleet expansion with the acquisition of a batch of Boeing 737-800s.
