FUNKE OSAE-BROWN

The yellow lights shine brightly on the marbles at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki that warm Thursday night. Guests walked in spotting different 1960s/’80s costumes. Some of them stood on the corridor to take selfies while staff of Air/France KLM takes them on a tour of a mini exhibition of Air France and KLM through the years. The staff in their themed aso-ebi share some selfie moments with one another and some of their customers.

Soft old school music played as guests helped themselves to some cocktails. Friends exchanged pleasantries over fine wine and finger foods while waiting for the event to start.

Before long, IK Osakioduwa took the microphone as he welcomes everyone with his hilarious jokes on love proposals and friendship in the 1960s. supported by music played by the DJ, Osakiodwa relived precious moments when it comes to dating and sharing love in the 1970s.

Later, Jean-Raoul Tauzin, General Manager Air France /KLM, in his welcome address customers are very important to the airline and it is for this reason it places comfort and safety  at the core of its business.

“We will continue to improve our products,” he explained. “We have launched the first 787 commercial flight to Cairo. KLM received a 787 last year. We received this last December. We will receive the next one in April and the next in May and next in November. At the end of the year, we will have more aircrafts.”

He added that due to the current economic challenges in the country, the ariline had some challenges. “We can understand that it is difficult, especially with the foreign exchange challenges. Therefore, it is difficult for us to bring in that type of aircraft for the time being. We are supposed to have bigger type of aircraft last year and we did it with KLM with the 777 but with the current situation, we withdrew that type of aircraft because it has to be profitable. We are a company and the business has to be profitable. As soon as we see the start of a change in the current situation, we will be able to reinvest in terms of fleet and for sure the aircraft is one of the latest in the fleet, it will be deployed to the route.”

On his part, Arthur Dieffenthaler, commercial director Nigeria and Ghana, Air France/KLM says the airline is looking back at 2016 and celebrating business relationships with its customers.

“It has been a challenging year but more than ever, it has been a year we connected with many customers. We are celebrating the past and looking forward to building tighter relationships. For Airfrace/KLM it has been a very exciting year because we changed quite a lot of things. We celebrated together with the premiere of a movie in a plane, which has never happened before. So, we showed to the rest of the world that irrespective of what happened, Nigeria together with Air France and KLM has been able to do remarkable things. I am looking up to 2017 with great confidence and I am sure that we will continue celebrating innovation and new things in Nigeria. Knowing how Nigeria works by now, there will be ways Nigeria will find their way back in a positive side of development. I am looking forward to a prosperous 2017.”