1st February, 2018
Nigerian carrier, Air Peace has taken delivery of one of the six 50-seater new generation Embraer 145 jets it recently acquired.
The Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, confirmed the development in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos.
Onyema said the aircraft, which touched down at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos at about 5.49 pm on Wednesday, would operate under the carrier’s subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.
He said the move marked the first time a Nigerian airline would establish a subsidiary to manage an arm of its flight operations, following the tradition of some of the big carriers in the world.
Onyema described the arrival of the new aircraft named Nkechi Ezewusi (Nee Onyema) and birthing of the subsidiary as a milestone in the airline’s vision of uniting Nigeria through air connectivity.
“The arrival of our latest new generation aircraft marked 5N-BUY has once again underscored our determination to bring Nigeria together through air connectivity and fix the air travel difficulties of many unserved and underserved cities in the country.
“We are even more pleased that the arrival of the aircraft marks the beginning of our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.
“Another of the six Embraer 145 jets we recently acquired will arrive in Nigeria in less than a week’s time.
“We will organise our plan to link many cities in the North and South of Nigeria under the subsidiary,” he said.
According to him, under Air Peace Hopper, the airline hopes to connect routes such as Enugu-Kano-Enugu, Benin-Port-Harcourt-Benin, Port-Harcourt-Kano-Port-Harcourt, Lagos-Warri-Port-Harcourt-Warri-Lagos.
He said that it would also connect Lagos-Warri-Abuja-Warri, Lagos-Kaduna-Lagos, Lagos-Sokoto-Lagos, Abuja-Sokoto-Abuja, Abuja-Bauchi-Abuja, Lagos- Makurdi-Lagos, Lagos-Jos-Lagos, among others.
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Onyema said :”This will not only open up and energise the economies of the different cities and states, but also create massive job opportunities for the people.
“We remain focused in our determination to transform air travel in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. In three years, we have increased our fleet to a size of 24 aircraft.
“We are currently pursuing a massive route expansion project. We are launching our Lagos-Kano-Lagos and Kano-Abuja-Kano services on Feb. 12.
“This will be followed three days after with the inauguration of our Lagos-Yola and Abuja-Yola operations on Feb. 15.
“Four days after, we will commence our flight operations to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar on February 19.”
He said that other cities on the West Coast of Africa would soon join the airline’s route network.
The Air Peace boss said plans were also being finalised for flight operations to international destinations, including Dubai, Sharjah, Guangzhou-China, London, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg.
“We have our plans well laid out and are primed to project the name of Nigeria around the world.
“We deeply appreciate the support of our esteemed guests whose support and loyalty have made us the preferred and biggest airline in Nigeria and West Africa.
“We will continue to strive to deliver the best flight service to them and prioritise their safety and comfort as we expand our operations,” Onyema said.