Ibom Air, Akwa Ibom’s State-owned airline company, is scheduled to commence commercial flight operations today. The follows Thursday’s issuance of Air Operator Certificate (AOC) by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
In a statement issued by the new airline, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority was appreciated for conducting the certification process in an objective, professional, competent, and thorough manner. According to the statement, the certification process, which was supposed to last for nine months, lasted for only seven months instead.
Fleet Size: In the meantime, the airline company has a fleet size of three airplanes which were recently brought in from Canada.
“All three aircraft were ferried into Nigeria from Canada on their Canadian registration, which is normal, for insurance purposes. But as soon as they arrived in Nigeria, they were deregistered from Canada and assumed their Nigerian registration 5N-BWK, 5N-BWL and 5N-BWM respectively, which they have borne until today.”
Earlier Developments: Recall that when the airline’s third aircraft was delivered in February, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, disclosed the aircraft has a sitting capacity of about 90 people and that the airline would operate routes that would give preference to the Akwa Ibom people.
Controversy: Earlier on, there were allegations that the reason the airline’s takeoff date was delayed was aircraft that were previously owned and operated by different airlines in Canada and Libya were acquired. Reacting to this allegation, the management of the airline explained that what appeared to be a delay was indeed caused by the certification process that was conducted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
to those waiting for Ibom Air to commence operations was the certification process.
“We are also pleased to say that we have been busy fine-tuning our internal systems and processes to ensure that we are ready to deliver the world-class service we have promised from day one.”