Järvinen: We’re keen to work with Nigerian carriers on regional connectivity

Juha Järvinen is the Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic. He leads the Commercial function which includes Airline Commercial with network planning, joint venture with Delta and Air France-KLM, partnerships, and revenue management among other high-profile portfolios. In this interview with WOLE SHADARE, he speaks on the airline’s commitment to Nigeria’s aviation market, Africa as new frontier for airline expansion and growth opportunities and how Nigeria can leverage regional connectivity as one of the best options for growth

Looking at your operation in Nigeria in the last 23 years, how do you rate it in terms of products, on-time departure and everything that has to do with your service?

We have been flying to Nigeria for 23 years. We are here to do another round of appreciation because of the importance of Nigeria to us and it is one of our top-performing routes in our network. As a challenger and as a fighter in changing the name of the game in the aviation industry, we are still living to that DNA. We give the best service to customers. We have been recording high load factors, demand is strong and we are on 85 to 90 mark. We have strong performance on the route. We want to fly with our best product; that is A350-1000 on the route and that is what we are committed to that is what Nigerians deserve, the best product and that is what we are planning to have in the future as well as the big part of the demand is to London as much as we can offer connectivity to places like New York and other US destinations. That is really what we are committed to make sure that we have the best option for Nigerians travelling to London and beyond.

When you say the best option, you know that the market is highly competitive and a very lucrative route. You have about three airlines going to London directly from Nigeria, how have you been able to manage the competition and what has been the strategy deployed to be ahead of your competitors?

We love competition. We have been growing with competition. We love competing with a few airlines that are currently flying nonstop and we believe that we have the best product offering with an Upper-class premium economy and are attractive price point. We schedule early in the morning which allows you to avoid rush hour in Lagos and we continue to make sure we have a good selection of movies, and food, trying to localize as much as we can for the Nigerian customers and they appreciate the offer that we have and not forgetting our people, our cabin crew who are the best in the skies. We claim they are the best in the skies and that’s what we stand for.

Looking at the market, Nigeria is very strategic for you. Could you tell me how you have been able to navigate it and how strategic this market has been to you?

South Africa and Nigeria have been part of our portfolio for a very long time. We continue to explore new opportunities as well. We have announced Accra in Ghana and launching that in May which is another incremental growth and belief in Africa and West Africa specifically and we continue to explore more. We are currently happy with our Lagos performance. We need to be competitive. We believe that we have the right offering in the market and of course, we need to always be involved in it and explore growth opportunities that there could be.

What is your expansion plan not only for Nigeria but Africa?

To be precise, we have Lagos. Accra comes in May and Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa. We are currently exploring several other markets in Africa. We see Africa as one of our biggest growth opportunities in a few years.

Are you also planning to go to Abuja, Port-Harcourt.? You have concentrated on Lagos for 23 years but other airlines are expanding in Nigeria? Do you have plans of going beyond Lagos and to Abuja or other destinations in Nigeria? Does BASA restrict you to only Lagos?

Currently, it is restricted. At the moment, we are restricted by the BASA

Virgin Atlantic Airways has been relatively quiet in this market. You have been quiet in this market.

We have never been quiet. We have been doing other things, focusing on other markets in the past few years and at the same time, we have never moved away. Lagos is fundamental to us. We have been happy with what we have been doing but again, we should never underestimate the competition. The competing landscape is getting tougher. We are making sure we can have a fair share and that is why we are here.

Have you returned to the pre-Covid era? I know that the industry is picking up and almost all the airlines have recovered, what can we say of Virgin Atlantic?

We have now accomplished the maturity of our 2019. We can hopefully soon leave 2019 behind us. We can have record revenue this year as an airline, and record operating performance which shows that we have left the pandemic behind us. We are here to continue developing the airline profitably and continue growing it just like we are launching Accra, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. We are growing in India. We are growing in multiple markets at the same time because we are now in the expansion phase in a profitable way. In a way 2024 in many ways is the new ground zero for us. We have made some foundational changes, closed some of the operations in other airports, we renewed our fleet, and we now have the youngest fleet in the sky, with over six years. We are the most sustainable option, we have as an organization become much more efficient, and joining Skyteam, so we’ve, I would say, COVID was very difficult for the whole industry, but it’s also, you could say, a blessing of renewal. This year we will be renewing our distribution strategy. We will be implementing new technology, which will make it easier for Nigerian travel agents to book us. So we are always seeking new ways to distribute so that the agents have the best prices and the best offer with our signature version service.

Your plan for the Nigerian market

In this market, we have the newest aircraft on the route which is the A350-100. Next year, we will be renewing our distribution strategy and implementing new technology for Nigerian travel agents with new ways to distribute for the best prices and best offer and to make sure that the distinctive Virgin service is enjoyed by many Nigerians.

Could you throw more light on your partnership with Kenya Airways? We understand you have a codeshare with Kenya Airways.

Kenya Airways is part of SkyTeam. So, we joined SkyTeam in 2023. Kenya Airways is one of our partners, so we know, that all the Kenya Airways flights between London and Nairobi have a Virgin Atlantic number to them and that is our core strategy to work with several airlines around the world.

Could you let us into the codeshare or partnership you have with Delta Air Lines?

While we are celebrating our 40th anniversary, we are also celebrating our tenth anniversary with Delta. We have a joint venture now for ten years. It’s now expanded a few years ago to include Air France-KLM as well. We have 34 daily departures from Heathrow to the US together with Delta. We have probably a 25% market share between the UK and the US. We have been a significant player in the North Atlantic. And of course, from a Nigerian perspective, that keeps us the whole Virgin, Delta network. So for Nigerians to be part of our flying club, for example, the Flyer Programme, that gives the whole access to not only Virgin and Delta but of course all the SkyTeam airlines, including Kenya Airways. So that’s the loyalty ecosystem is getting bigger and bigger.

 We know that the Virgin Nigeria deal only worked out for three or four years before the whole thing collapsed. Let me just assume the position of the government now that we’re talking about the national carrier for Nigeria. What if the government calls you to help out in setting up an airline for Nigeria, would the airline be open to helping out?

Currently, there is no active conversation. I can’t comment more on that. Currently, no conversations are taking place.

But you said you are open to collaborations and partnerships

We are open to new ideas. I will say more generically, that we are very keen on the stability of the Nigerian economy and we have decided to explore future opportunities.

What advice would you give on how to reposition Nigeria’s airline industry to get out of the woods because we know that the airline business in Nigeria is small, weak and fragmented?

The key of course for any economy is connectivity. Of course, the regional connectivity is key. Of course, we will be keen to work with the airline which can build that locally in the region. That’s probably the best advice I could give that the regional connectivity is key. We can provide longer connectivity to Europe, the UK and of course the US. But what Nigeria should do is make sure that there is strong regional connectivity to make sure that Nigeria and the other countries in the region can benefit from working closer together and making sure that the local economy becomes stronger.

Where do you see Virgin Atlantic in the next 40 years?

Well, we had a lot of various activities this year and of course, Sir Richard Branson is extremely proud that we made it to 40 years. And of course, we’re excited for the next 40 years. I mean the key for us for the next 40 years is to live up to our DNA and don’t change our DNA, meaning we are a challenger brand, we want to focus on customer excellence, make sure that we have a different customer service proposition and we take care of our people because our people when they are feeling good, they also are better towards the customer. it’s about the continuous renewal of the product. In today’s world also, it is good to be sustainable by having the youngest fleet in the sky and having the best product that is a way for us to grow further. We see growth opportunities in Africa as a continent. India of course as well, India and Africa are the two markets where we see the biggest growth efficiency in the next years.

What has been the feedback from the travel agencies that are your partners here in Nigeria?

We have a relationship with the travel trade here. The economy and the devaluation of the currency brought about a lot of challenges. We’ve been trying to be as creative as we can to make sure that we can maximize the sales here locally. it’s about having the local team here and making sure that we are always listening to our customers, listening to our agents to make sure that we can serve you even better.

Trapped funds caused a lot of problems for the airline and others. While others threatened to leave, Virgin Atlantic remained committed to the Nigerian market……

It was a challenging period for quite a long time but we didn’t want to leave because again that shows our commitment to the market. So we found different ways to repatriate some funds but of course, it was very expensive for us as well to do that. Currently, we’re in a much better position but of course, it’s key that the economy starts improving and the currency would be more stable.

Have you opened all your ticket inventories for cheaper fares to Nigeria?

Yes, the inventory is fully open.

The relatively lower fare we see on the London route could probably have been a result of a Nigerian airline joining the competition. How true is that?

The easiest thing to do in an airline is to offer low fares. But how sustainable that is remains to be seen. Every airline has to cover their costs and of course cost of operation with the complexities of the market. Many of the costs are seriously high here. So we need to be able to have a sustainable business model and therefore every airline designs its business model. You can always offer low prices but how sustainable are they?

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