Poised to dominate the African airspace and also compete with International airlines, Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, says it will begin flight operations to Johannesburg, South Africa and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates next month. Making the announcement, Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, disclosed this at a meeting of the airline’s Board of Directors on Wednesday in Ikeja.
He said Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Houston, Guangzhou and Mumbai would soon join the airline’s international route network while plans were also on to connect more cities within Nigeria.
Onyema said the airline had so far acquired four B777 aircraft for its long-haul operations with three already delivered ahead of the international operations. He further revealed that Air Peace had placed a firm order with Boeing for 10 brand new B737 Max 8 aircraft and that it would continue to monitor the situation based on safety concerns raised about the aircraft.
The Chairman of Air Peace added that the airline had also placed a firm order for 10 brand new Embraer 195-E2 jets and purchase right for 20 aircraft of the same model which would be delivered by May 2020.
He urged the Federal Government to protect Nigerian airlines from the outrageous charges being imposed on them while operating outside the country or reciprocate such charges on foreign airlines flying into Nigeria. According to him, Air Peace has lost over N1. 2 billion in the last one year in flying to countries in the West Coast of Africa such as Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, due to exorbitant charges.
