The ancient city of Kano was agog Monday 12 as AirPeace launched its first flight into the emirate city, the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria.
The aircraft which took off from the Lagos airport at 7.15am touched down at the Mallam Aminu Kano airport an hour and 15 minutes later, ceremonially bathed to officially welcome the airline to the airport, by the FAAN fire and rescue officers to the applause of the officials of the aviation authorities at the airport and the representative of the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II.
Welcoming the airline to the state, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said the emirate council was happy to have AirPeace in the state, commending the Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Allen Onyema for his commitment as a patriotic Nigeria to cover the entire country through air travel.
He assured Air Peace that they were at home in Kano and had nothing to fear as the Kano Emirate Council and the good people of Kano State was solidly behind them.
The Emir who was represented by Alhaji Ibrahim Sambo, the magic Jakadan Hausa described Air Peace inaugural flight to Kano as a historic and landmark event, promised that the Emirate will continue to render assistance to the airline to grow in their operations in the state.
The Regional Manager, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Kano, Alhaji Mohammed Bello who was elated that AirPeace had come to stimulate the economic activities of the airport and state said the doors of FAAN was wide opened for their support.
He urged the airline to keep maintain the on-kit me schedule they were know for and striving hard to sustain their operations and also to offer affordable fares to attract more passengers to their airline.
“We have been experiencing problems of delays and cancellations because few airlines operate into Kano, with your coming this will change. All necessary consideration will be given to AirPeace, Kano is your home, please, continue to establish and sustain this route and keep to time and make your price comfortable to passengers”.
Responding, MD/CEO, AirPeace, Mr. Allen Onyema said the launch into Kano was the airline’s vision to unite the country, Nigeria through air travel and lift the nation’s economy through trade facilitation and massive job creation.
Onyema represented by the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, said,’ today’s historic event accords with our strategy to expand our operations in the North of Nigeria and connect other unserved or under served cities of the nation. Kano has long been recognized as the economic capital of the North of Nigeria. We are therefore, hopeful that the expansion of our flight services to the state will greatly positively impact the economy of the region”.
Mr. Onyema also intimated the emir’s representative of plans the airline had put in place to ensure that the flag and the name of the country was also known through AirPeace out the world. ” In the last one year, we have hugely expanded our capacity to serve the flying public with the increase of our fleet to a size of 24 aircraft. On January 31 and February 8 respectively, we took delivery of two of the six Embraer 145 aircraft we recently acquired to serve cities with air transport difficulties under our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper. We had earlier taken delivery of three Boeing 737 aircraft we recently procured. Soon, the two Boeing 777 aircraft we acquired for our flight operations to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Guangzhou, Mumbai, Houston and Johannesburg will be arriving in Nigeria”.
He assured the people that their fares would be good for them putting into consideration the economic situation in the country.
“We have the best fares, we believe fares should be democratize. Safety is our first rule in AirPeace, we do not joke with maintenance, we keep to our schedule. We are an airline that is safe, customer centric, we are passionate about our flight”.
Onyema noted that AirPeace would continue to employ the Kano people and impart their lives, urging them to give them a feedback about their operations whether good or bad to make improvement.
