► BRAZIL: Arik Air now eyes a November launch for São Paulo flights; in talks with Embraer over possible deal for 15 jets.

Nigeria's Arik Air (W3) says it hopes to launch its vaunted Lagos - São Paulo, Brazil flights in November of this year, though this is still dependent on the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC) issuing it convenient landing slots at Guarulhos International Airport.

Arik's planned B747-8s (Boeing)

In an interview with The Leadership, Arik's Acting Vice President Operations/Deputy Managing Director, Captain Ado Sanusi, said while initial operations will focus on Sao Paulo, flights to the city of Recife and Rio de Janeiro are also a possibility. 

"The initial city we are looking at is Sao Paulo. But it might change because our business plan is always undergoing review. We might go to Recife, and we might go to Rio de Janeiro. But the initial one we have chosen now is to go to Sao Paulo."

e initial city we are looking at is Sao Paulo. But it might change because our business plan is always undergoing review. We might go to Recife, and we might go to Rio de Janeiro. But the initial one we have chosen now is to go to Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo is the biggest city in the Southern hemisphere, and the airport is very busy, so you need a slot to go into that airport, especially if you are going to land there and also make sure that your passengers have connecting flights. So you must have a particular time to land to enable your passengers connect easily with other flights so that they can get to other countries or cities.
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Once flights commence, Arik will have to contend with Royal Air Maroc (AT), which are set to resume their operations between the two continents, now set for a December 9 launch. Brazil's GOL Transportes Aéreos (G3) is also due to commence Recife to Lagos (with a potential sector to Luanda, Angola) flights before year end.

With the route established, Arik will then investigate potential interline & codeshare deals with either TAM Linhas Aéreas (JJ) or GOL in order to expand its Brazilian footprint. 

"We don’t intend to have only point-to-point flight to Brazil, that is fly to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. We intend to offer our passengers the ability to fly all over South America. What we will do is to try and see the best network as offered to us either by TAM or by GOL, then we will have interlining agreement or code sharing and have a good partnership and they are very willing."

Talks are also reportedly underway with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, regarding a potential order of between ten and fifteen "Executive" E-Jets and the possibility of Embraer setting up an MRO facility in the country. Whether these will see onward placement in Arik's domestic & regional scheduled passenger fleet or its Executive Charter division remains uncertain.