The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Air Peace

  • Air Peace fixes Feb 19 for Freetown, Banjul, Dakar launch

    Air Peace has announced a new date for the launch of its flights from Lagos to Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in The Gambia and Dakar in Senegal. The airline said it will now connect the three West Coast destinations on February 19.

    The airline had fixed the launch of its flights to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar for December 15, 2017. The launch was, however, suspended at the last minute due to the industrial unrest by air traffic control (ATC) in Dakar.

    The carrier had pledged to announce a new date for the launch when it was certain that the industrial action in Dakar, a critical connection in its route plan, had been fully resolved to avoid its guests being put through a strain.

    A statement issued by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, on Tuesday said the new destinations would now join its route network on February 19. The routes, he said, were part of the second phase of the airline’s expansion project on the West Coast of Africa and would bring its network to a total of 14 destinations.

    Air Peace made its first scheduled commercial flight out of Nigeria from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos into the Kotoka International Airport, Accra-Ghana on February 16, 2017.

  • Air Peace for mass route expansion

    Air Peace for mass route expansion

    The Chairman, Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, says the airline will in 2018 end air travel woes of most underserved destinations in Nigeria and the West Coast of Africa.

    Onyema said that the airline would also offer the flying public a preferred alternative on some key international routes in 2018.

    According to a statement by Mr Chris Iwarah, the airline’s Communications Manager, on Sunday, Onyema spoke at the management session to review the airline’s flight operations in 2017.

    Onyema said that the airline deserved commendations for rescuing Nigerian aviation industry and giving air travellers hope in the period under review.

    The airline chairman said he was quite satisfied that Air Peace was able to expand its fleet to 24 aircraft, in spite of the nation’s economic downturn and the aviation sector experienced in 2017.

    Onyema attributed the airline’s success in the three years of its existence to the unflinching support of the flying public and the quality leadership of its management team.

    The Air Peace chief said that the airline would remain grateful to its customers for their patronage over the years, urging the flying public to continue to trust the carrier’s services.

    According to him, Air Peace will continue to strive to sustain its uncompromising approach to safety, prioritisation of the comfort of its customers and jobs creation.

    He, however, said that the airline still has a lot of grounds to cover in its vision to transform air travel experience in Nigeria, West Coast of Africa and Dubai, Guangzhou-China, London, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg routes.

    He urged carrier’s management to brace up for the challenge of implementing the airline’s plan.

    Onyema said that this was to deepen air connectivity on many routes in the Northern part of Nigeria, including Kano and Yola, and other domestic routes.

    He expressed regret that industrial unrest by Air Traffic Control in Senegal compelled Air Peace to suspend the launch of its Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes planned for Dec.15.

    Onyema, however, assured that the carrier would soon announce a new date for the launch of the three suspended West Coast routes.

    He said that the airline, which began flight operations to Accra-Ghana on Feb.16, was determined to expand to about nine destinations on the West Coast of Africa.

    Onyema added that the airline was awaiting the delivery of the two Boeing 777 Aircraft it recently acquired to start its flight operations to Dubai, Guangzhou, London, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg.

  • Air Peace pledges expansion in 2018

    Air Peace pledges expansion in 2018

    •Thanks customers, staff

    Air Peace has pledged to end the air travel woes of most underserved destinations in the country and the West Coast of Africa and offer the flying public a preferred alternative on some key international routes in 2018.

    Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Allen Onyema, gave the assurance at the airline’s end-of-year management session held in Lagos to review its flight operations in 2017.

    Commenting on the carrier’s operations, Onyema insisted that the airline deserved commendations for rescuing the Nigerian aviation industry and giving air travellers hope in the period under review.

    He said he was quite satisfied that the airline was able to expand its fleet to 24 aircraft despite the economic downturn in the country and its aviation sector.

    He attributed the airline’s success in the three years of its existence to the unflinching support of the flying public and the quality leadership of its management team.

    The airline, Onyema, however, said, still had a lot of grounds to cover in its vision to transform air travel experience in Nigeria, the West Coast of Africa and the Dubai, Guangzhou-China, London, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg routes.

    He charged the carrier’s management to brace up for the challenge of implementing the airline’s plan to deepen air connectivity on many routes in the North, including Kano and Yola, and other domestic routes.

    He regretted that industrial unrest by Air Traffic Control in Senegal which compelled the airline to suspend the launch of its Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes planned for December 15, 2017.

  • Air Peace grows fleet to 24 aircraft

    The operations of  Air Peace has received a boost with the delivery of one of its newly acquired aircraft.

    The airliner, a Boeing 737-300, touched down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

    The aircraft which was flown in by Capt. Ikechukwu Paul Ugochukwu and his team is the third Boeing 737  – 300 Air Peace has received this year.

    The carrier took delivery of two of its new Boeing 737 aircraft on February 21 , 2017 and June 16  , 2017 respectively.

    Air Peace recently acquired six Embraer 145, a couple of Boeing 737 and two Boeing 777 to bring its fleet size to 24 aircraft to drive its massive domestic, regional and international expansion project.

    Speaking on the delivery of the new aircraft marked 5N-BUK and named Mathias Eburuo Onyema, Air Peace Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Allen Onyema said it was evidence of the seriousness of the carrier’s pledge to deepen air connectivity in Nigeria and the West Coast of Africa as well as make a difference on the international aviation scenes.

     

     

     

     

  • Truck hits Air Peace aircraft at Lagos Airport 

    Truck hits Air Peace aircraft at Lagos Airport 

    A truck operated by one of the ground handling companies on Thursday rammed into and damaged an aircraft belonging to Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, disrupting some of its flights.

    The incident occurred in the morning during the loading of passengers’ luggage into the cargo hold of the aircraft scheduled to service the carrier’s Lagos-Uyo route.

    A statement issued by the Corporate Communications Manager of Air Peace, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the door of the rear cargo hold of the aircraft was impacted and damaged in the incident.

    The aircraft, it added, had been declared unserviceable. The airline’s Uyo-bound passengers, the statement said, were rescheduled to fly later in the day.

    The airline said it deeply regretted the disruption of its Lagos-Uyo service and the delay the incident caused its passengers. It assured that arrangements had been made to take the affected passengers to their destinations.

    It would be recalled that a truck belonging to another ground handling company also hit and damaged an aircraft belonging to Air Peace at the Benin Airport in April this year.

    Air Peace confirmed that officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) were already investigating the incident at the Lagos airport on Thursday.

  • Yuletide: Air Peace assures of smooth operations

    Air Peace has assured air travellers of smooth flights during the yuletide.

    A statement by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, said some of its airliners in its 24-aircraft fleet had returned from maintenance to  boost air travel demand the festivities.

    The carrier said it would do everything possible to deliver prompt services during the period.

    “We recently deepened our capacity with the expansion of our fleet size to 24 aircraft.While some of our newly-acquired aircraft have started coming in, others that went on maintenance are returning to service. This obviously is a pleasing development, coming very close to the yuletide when there is usually a great rise in the demand for air travel.

    “Although inclement weather, as we have experienced in the last few weeks, is a huge challenge during this period, we have a solid plan to ensure our esteemed guests have the best of flight experience in the run-up to, during and after the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. We, however, appeal to our valued guests to show understanding and cooperation when there is a challenge of bad weather and other such circumstances that work against safe flight operations during the period.

    ‘’As a safety-centric airline, Air Peace sincerely values the lives of its guests and crew and will never operate a flight except it is truly safe to do so,” the airline said.

    It praised the Federal Government for its ongoing effort to fix the  Enugu Airpo runway.

    Air Peace assured the travelling public that all its daily flights into and out of the facility from 7am to 2pm would operate as scheduled.

    The airline, however, said other Enugu-bound flights from about 3pm when the runway of the facility was expected to be shut daily would be diverted to either the Owerri or Port Harcourt airport.

    The airline added that passengers affected by the partial closure of the Enugu Airport could reschedule to any of the alternate airports for free.

    In another development, the carrier regretted the postponement of the launch of its Freetown, Banjul and Dakar services as part of the second phase of the expansion of its regional route network.

    The airline blamed the development on industrial unrest by air traffic control (ATC) in Dakar, a critical chain in its route map.

    Air Peace said: “We were all set for the launch of the second phase of our expansion on the West Coast of Africa, connecting Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in The Gambia and Dakar in Senegal.Members of our advance crew were already on ground in Dakar when we received the disruptive news around midnight of December 14, the eve of the launch, that Dakar’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) would shut down on December 15 we had planned to operate our inaugural flight into the destination.

    “This development completely upset our plan, as Dakar is critical to the new routes launch. We had no choice than to take the painful decision to call off the launch to avoid our esteemed guests getting stuck in the area despite the huge financial and material resources we had committed to the process. Our decision to call off the launch turned out to be quite right as members of our advance crew were eventually caught in the industrial unrest and got stuck in Dakar.

    “The incident, rather than discourage us from servicing the routes, has more than ever before fuelled our resolve to tackle the difficulties experienced by air travellers on the routes. We have immediately begun fresh arrangements to expand to the routes and when we are really certain that the industrial unrest in Dakar has been fully settled, we will announce a new launch date and deliver on our promise to end the nightmare of air travellers on the routes.”

     

  • Air Peace to begin West coast flights

    Air Peace to begin West coast flights

    Air Peace has announced plans to connect Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in the Gambia and Dakar in Senegal, starting from December 15.

    The airline, in a statement issued by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, yesterday in Lagos, said: “We are pleased to announce the second phase of the expansion of our route network on the West Coast of Africa with the commencement of our flights from Lagos to Freetown, Banjul and Dakar on Dec. 15.

    “This is an exciting step in fulfilling our promise to unlock the economies of the region, offer air travellers on business and leisure trips seamless connectivity as well as create jobs for the people.

    “We will operate round-trip flights from our Lagos base to the new routes four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

    “The service departs the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) for Freetown at 7am (local time).

    “The launch will bring destinations on our regional route map to four. Our West Coast expansion project is still unveiling. We hope to connect about five more routes in the region in the next few weeks.”

    He said the new routes would bring its route network to a total of 14 destinations within and outside Nigeria.

    Iwarah said the airline recently embarked on a project to increase its fleet size to 24 aircraft, adding that the Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes would be serviced by its Boeing 737 aircraft to guarantee the comfort of its guests.

    He noted that Air Peace made its first scheduled commercial flight out of Nigeria from the MMIA, Lagos into the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana on February 16.

    According to him, the airline plans to operate flights to five other regional routes as well as six international destinations comprising Dubai, London, Guangzhou-China, Houston, Mumbai and South Africa soon.

  • Air Peace connects Abuja-Uyo

    Air Peace said it will commence flights on the Abuja-Uyo -Abuja route on December 7.

    A statement by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, confirmed this.

    The new route, Air Peace said, will complement its Lagos-Uyo-Lagos service.

    The carrier said the new service was in response to the yearnings of air travellers for on-time, consistent and reliable flights on the Abuja-Uyo-Abuja route.

    Air Peace assured that its new flights will cater to the huge demand for air travel on the route in the run-up to Christmas, and give flyers the confidence to planning their schedules.

     

  • Air Peace advises engineers

    Air Peace has urged the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISE) to focus on developing the right skills to put Nigerian engineers fully in charge of engineering services in the aviation sector.

    The airline gave the charge in Lagos during the 2017 Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers where it was honoured with an award in recognition of its “promotion and support for the practice of engineering safety in Nigeria.”

    Air Peace regretted the dearth of modern engineering manpower in the Nigerian aviation sector, insisting that airlines were compelled by the development to resort to expatriates for most of their maintenance and other engineering operations.

    Speaking at the conference tagged: Assuring Public Safety in Nigeria: The Roles of Safety Engineers, Air Peace Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Allen Onyema, assured that the carrier was uncompromising in its approach to matters of safety.

    Onyema, who was represented by the Corporate Communications Manager of Air Peace, Mr. Chris Iwarah, assured that he was anxious to see the end of the current trend where domestic airlines relied on expatriates for their major engineering operations.

    He, however, insisted that Nigerian engineers must first deepen their capacity for handling aircraft maintenance before airlines would be comfortable to fully put them in charge of catering to their engineering needs.

    Air Peace, Onyema said, was spending billions of foreign exchange on maintenance of its aircraft overseas in line with its high safety standards. The availability of a corps of technically empowered  Nigerian engineers, he said, would help the airline realise its vision of employing local talents and growing the nation’s economy.

     

  • Air Peace gets IATA membership

    Air Peace gets IATA membership

    Air Peace Airlines has  received membership certificate of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

    The membership of the global  body will enable the airline sign codeshare and interline agreements with other global carriers.

    The IATA membership for Air Peace comes a few months after it scaled the International Operations Safety Audit (IOSA), organised by IATA.

    Speaking at the corporate headquarters of the airline at  Ikeja, GRA, IATA’s West African regional manager, Dr  Samson Fatokun, said with admission of the airline into the global league, Air Peace can now participate in multi-lateral and bilateral agreements on international operations.

    He said the airline can now benefit from training  programmes organised by the  global body, which include participation in the Billing Settlement Plan( BSP) as well as other safety endorsements.

    Fatokun said Air Peace has worked assidiously to be listed  among over 300 airlines across the globe and  granted IATA membership.

    Speaking after receiving the certificate from IATA, Air Peace Chairman, Allen Onyema, descibed the airline’s admission into the global legue as a challenge that would spur it to do more.

    Onyema said the IATA membership would enable Air Peace consolidate its plans to fly into nine West African  countries to be unveiled soon.

    The airline, he said,  has secured codeshare and interline agreements with two legacy carriers to consolidate its plans to launch international flights next year.

    Onyema said: “This IATA membership is a challenge for us. Air Peace will continue with the membership and will never shortchange safety. In the last three years, we have become a household name. “

    He disclosed that by middle of next month, the airline will deliver a new set of 11 aircraft that will be injected into the domestic operation and proposed international destinations.

    Mr. Onyema said Air Peace will fly into every continent of the world as plans are underway to increase the fleet to 48 aircraft from its present 24 and called on the global body to continue to create the enabling environment for airlines to compete, especially young airlines like Air Peace.

    Applauding the Federal Government, he said: “I thank the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for giving us six destinations. And I will not disappoint them. With the IATA membership, most reputable airlines will be willing to partner us. We will represent creditably wherever we will fly into.”

    While disclosing that plans are at advance stage to commence codeshare operations with two renowned carrier, he said its application to commence operations into Ghanzou in China, Dubai, Houston in Texas, London, India and others are receiving attention from the  countries’ authorities.

    Mr. Onyema also disclosed that following government’s intervention countries like Cameroun, Senegal, Liberia, Togo, Ivory Coast, which hitherto had refused to allow it operate into their countries, have written them to begin the processes of flying into their aerodrome.

    “Air Peace has been permitted to fly into Cameroun after two and half years, same for Sierra Leone, Liberia, though they gave us 60 days, Togo, the first country that stopped us wrote a letter of apology and has given us the permit. The same with Côte d’Ivoire. The other areas we are facing some challenges are charges and our government is looking into it,”he said.