Ibom Air : Akwa Ibom state government acquires two new aircraft
Grace Udoh Uyo
The Akwa Ibom state government says it has acquired two new aircraft for the state-owned Ibom Air.
The acquisition makes it a total of five aircraft owned by the state government.
Chairman of Ibom Air, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd), stated this during a press conference with journalists in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital on Tuesday, January 7.
He further revealed that the new aircrafts would be unveiled later this month.
According to him, Ibom Air had made about 3,000 flights since it began operations in June 2019 and is now flying more routes.
He stated that before 2023, the state would float 10 aircraft, adding that the government had invested a lot in the aviation business to boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.
His words: “Additional two aircraft are arriving this January. Within these eight months, we will have five aircraft. We have operated about 3,000 flights.
“We have increased our routes because when we first started, it was Uyo to Lagos and Uyo to Abuja. We have since added Abuja to Lagos and Lagos to Abuja.
“We have done enough to make on time departure and we have made about 97percent on time departure.
“Before the end of this administration, we should be able to acquire 10 aircraft. That is the target, before 2022 we should expand the domestic, regional and international routes.”
Meanwhile, plans are underway for Ibom Air to begin scheduled flights on the Cameroon-Nigeria route.
This was disclosed by the secretary to the Akwa Ibom government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, after the last state executive council meeting for 2019.
“There’s a demand from our neighbouring country, Cameroon, for Cameroonians to be connected directly to Lagos or Abuja instead of flying to Lome (Togo) before connecting a flight to Abuja or Lagos,” he said.