THISDAYonline

Bellview Airlines has bagged the African Regional Airline of the Year award at a recently held African Aviation awards in Casablanca, Morocco.

In giving the award to Bellview, organisers of the awards, the London-based African Aviation Magazine, adjudged the most widely read journal on aviation in Africa, in collaboration with African Airlines Association, said the airline "worked very hard to fulfill its ambitious mission statement, which is to be the undisputed leader in the aviation industry in Nigeria and the west African sub-region by providing the highest level of customer service," within the tariff regime permissible.

Uganda's Minister of State for Works, Housing and Communications, Mr. Michael Werikhe, while presenting the award to the Managing Director of Bellview Airlines, Mr. Kayode Odukoya, congratulated the airline for making such a positive statement for Sierra Leone and Nigeria's image, and expressed confidence that Bellview would not rest on her oars in making the country and the West African sub-region proud.

In a related development, a foremost consumer rights group, Consumer Advocacy Forum of Nigeria (CAFON) in conjunction with Purpple Consult has awarded Bellview Airlines the Best Consumer Sensitive Airline (2004) in the domestic category.

According to the organisers, the award goes to the best service provider who had scored the highest customer satisfaction votes in a nationwide poll.

In a statement in Lagos, the Airlines' Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Habib Mohammed, said the African Regional Airline award confirmed Bellview's growing status as a leading brand in the continent's airline market, a feat he said was achieved through dedication to offering most reliable flight schedules, and a commitment to high safety standards.

Bellview currently operates Europe's Joint Aviation Regulation(JAR-145) maintenance programme with AWACS Technics of France. It has a maintenance programme that is subject to dual certification; by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the European Union's JAR-145 regulations.

On the Customer Sensitivity award, Mohammed expressed satisfaction that Bellview's growth and international operations have not diminished its responsiveness to the challenges of providing quality and cost-effective domestic flight services.

This, he said, was demonstrated by the level of passenger confidence which ensures that "we are the first winner of the Consumer Sensitive Airline award.

According to him: "We are mindful at Bellview that charity begins at home." Bellview Airline, as the first private airline in the country, remains the first and only Nigerian airline in the IATA Clearing House; as well as the first to win an international airline performance award.