Private company

Merchant Express Aviation

Nigerian airline

Merchant Express Aviation was a cargo airline flying out of Lagos, Nigeria.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

  • Industryairline1
  • HeadquartersLagos1
Boeing 707-323C, Merchant Express AN0157694
Photo: JetPix, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons4

Merchant Express Aviation was a cargo airline flying out of Lagos, Nigeria.2

The story

Merchant Express Aviation flew around the 1990s. Just like many other cargo airlines from around the world, the company gave the venerable 707 jet another chance to fly for a company (other cargo airlines use the DC-8 also). Competition from such European cargo airlines like Cargo Lion, Cargolux and Germany's DHL, combined with the poor economic situation of Nigeria during the time (which also had to do with Nigeria Airways' demise) to precipitate the cargo airline company's demise before the 2000s had arrived.

From Wikipedia’s article on Merchant Express Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Fleet

Merchant Express Aviation used only one aircraft, a Boeing 707 that flew regularly from Africa to European cities, such as Ostend, Belgium. The aircraft's registration was 5N-MXX.

Destinations

From Lagos to many European cities.

From Wikipedia’s article on Merchant Express Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

  • Merchant Express Aviation

Subsidiaries

  • Merchant Express Aviation

From Wikidata.1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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