Bellview Airlines was an airline headquartered at Bellview Plaza in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria."Contacts." Bellview Airlines. 21 April 2008. Retrieved on 27 November 2010. "CORPORATE HEAD OFFICE Bellview Plaza 66b, Opebi Road, Ikeja P.M.B 21766, Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria" Founded in 1992 and having had 308 employees, it operated scheduled passenger flights within Africa as well as international flights to London Heathrow Airport; Amsterdam Airport Schiphol; Dubai International Airport; Madrid–Barajas Airport; Düsseldorf Airport and Madrid–Barajas Airport out of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. The airline was shut down in 2009.
History In 1992, Bellview Airlines emerged from Bellview Travels Limited, a Lagos-based travel agency, originally concentrating on offering executive charter services using a single Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft. In 1993 scheduled domestic passenger services commenced with a leased Douglas DC-9-30. In order to expand further, a subsidiary in Sierra Leone was founded in 1995, which later merged back into its parent company.
The Government of Nigeria set a deadline of April 30, 2007, for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise to avoid being grounded, in an effort to ensure better services and safety. Bellview Airlines satisfied the criteria of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and was subsequently re-registered for operation .
In October 2009, Bellview Airlines ceased operations after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suspended the airline from its Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) system. The suspension followed the grounding of Bellview’s domestic and regional flights due to a lack of aircraft. The airline announced it was undergoing restructuring and awaiting the delivery of new planes. As a result, ticketing and refund processes were halted, interline partnerships were affected, and passengers with existing bookings faced significant disruption, with no immediate access to refunds through the IATA system.
Destinations
In July 2009, Bellview Airlines offered scheduled flights to the following destinations:
Africa Angola Luanda (Quatro de Fevereiro Airport) Cameroon Douala (Douala International Airport) Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport) Egypt Cairo (Cairo International Airport) focus city Ethiopia Addis Ababa (Bole International Airport) Gabon Libreville (Libreville International Airport) The Gambia Banjul (Banjul International Airport) Ghana Accra (Accra International Airport) Guinea Conakry (Conakry International Airport) Kenya Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) Liberia Monrovia (Roberts International Airport) Morocco Marrakesh (Marrakesh Menara Airport) Nigeria Abuja (Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport) focus city Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport) hub Kano (Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport) Port Harcourt (Port Harcourt International Airport) focus city Senegal Dakar (Dakar-Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport) Sierra Leone Freetown (Lungi International Airport) South Africa Johannesburg (O. R. Tambo International Airport) Sudan Khartoum (Khartoum International Airport) Tanzania Dar es Salaam (Julius Nyerere International Airport focus city Tunisia Tunis (Tunis–Carthage International Airport)
Europe United Kingdom London (London Heathrow Airport) Germany Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Airport) Netherlands Amsterdam (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) United Arab Emirates Dubai (Dubai International Airport) Spain Madrid (Madrid–Barajas Airport)
Incidents and accidents On October 22, 2005, Bellview Airlines Flight 210, a Boeing 737-200 aircraft with 117 people on board, crashed shortly after taking off from Murtala Mohammed International Airport en route to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, killing all 117 people on board. Bellview grounded all flights on the next day, but resumed operation again on October 24.Lagos crash 2005 On December 19, 2005, a Boeing 737 operating a Bellview Airlines flight between Lagos and Freetown made an emergency landing at Accra International Airport in Accra, Ghana due to hydraulical problems. On the following day, Nigerian authorities ordered all Bellview flights to be grounded and suspended the airline's license until December 22.
Fleet +Over the years, Bellview Airlines operated the following aircraft types:Aircraft In serviceRetiredPassengersNotes FCYTotalYakovlev Yak-4011993———24The aircraft was sold for parts.Douglas DC-9-30119981684100The aircraft was scrapped.Airbus A300-600 32009—28238266Register # 5N-BVU, 5N-BVV, 5N-BVX.Boeing 737-200520098—106114One crashed as Flight 210.Boeing 737-3004200912—116128Boeing 767-200ER 3 2009—18186204Register #'s 5N-BGH-Stored, PP-VNS Sold to Varig Airlines, 5N-BHC-Returned to the lessor.Boeing 767-300ER 220091824178220Both aircraft sold to Japan Airlines as J614 and J615.
See also Airlines of Africa
References
External links
Bellview Airlines (Archive)