The Minister of Aviation,Senator Hadi Sirika, has commended Air Peace for acquisition of brand new aircraft, saying the carrier’s business plan was in line with the Federal Government’s roadmap for the sector.
He insisted that the use of brand new air planes by the airline would change the dynamics in airlines’ profitability and sustainability, by driving down maintenance and fueling costs.
Sirika made the statement recently in Abuja at the delivery ceremony of Air Peace third brand new E195-E2 aircraft,according to a statement by Stanley Olisa, the Spokesman for the airline said that
Sirika, who was represented at the occasion by Mr. Hassan Musa, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Ministry, called on other carriers to emulate the airline.
Speaking , Allen Onyema, Chairman, Air Peace, lauded Sirika for engendering tremendous changes in the sector, while adding that the industry had experienced exponential transformation since he assumed office.
Onyema said the acquisition of the 30 new planes, when fully operational, would create 17, 000 jobs for technical personnel in the country, in addition to the over 3,000 direct and indirect employees currently.
He said: “By next year, we hope to receive all the 13 planes we made firm orders for and by the end of 2023, we intend to activate payment for another 10 of the aircraft brand, which will bring the total to 23. We have new routes that we want to deploy the aircraft to. We have new routes that we have just opened, and more routes will still be explored in the coming months.”
He hinted that the airline would be opening Gombe soon and plans to deploy the brand new aircraft to West Coast and the broader African region.
Onyema said the company plans to commence the Lagos-London route, with the assistance of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) which is working on fast-tracking the process.
