It is no longer news that the domestic airline sub-sector has undergone series of metamorphosis ranging from good to bad and vice-versa.
It was recently heard from seasoned stakeholders that over 47 airlines had been licensed to operate after the liquidation of Nigeria Airways, 31 of them are comatose while only about eight are operational currently.
According to them, apart from a major problem of government indiscriminately granting multiple flight frequencies to foreign airlines, undue interference by airline owners; improper allocation of resources; uncertainty in regulations and lack of proper market survey, had contributed to the problems of the airline sub-sector.
They are of the opinion that the country may be losing about N100 billion to such flight rights, to the detriment of local operators. But the unstable state of the sector had not discouraged some businessmen as they still believe they could turn things around with prudence, consciousness to safety culture and customer comfort.
One of the businessmen, Allen Onyema, a barrister , who is the chairman of a relatively new entrant, Air Peace, says his airline is here to stay as it is set up to bring peace to Nigeria as witnessed in the composition of the workforce of the airline.
Onyema, who is the National Chairman of The Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), said when the company took delivery of a B737-500 with registration number 5N-BQS, the airline had entered into a maintenance partnership with the BCT Aviation Maintenance Company of the United Kingdom.
According to him, Air Peace fleet is being maintained by the British maintenance firm, BCT Aviation Maintenance Company, which maintains aircraft around the world. He pointed out though the maintenance agreement was at a huge cost to the company, the airline attached importance to safety issues.
“One of the airlines operating in Nigeria is using the Germans in the maintenance of its aircraft and that is good; but Air Peace has gone British, and is being maintained by a major maintenance company, the BCT Aviation. This airline has zero tolerance for unsafe practices hence the serious attachment to safety with the signing of an agreement with the UK base maintenance company”, he said.
On what motivated him to venture into airline business, Onyema said he decided to set up an airline to create jobs for Nigerians and not to make money.
“It is about my vision to plough back into the society. I know that the aviation industry is a very turbulent industry not only in Nigeria but also worldwide, but I have to contribute my own quota on how to contribute to the growth of my nation by creating jobs. I was told that one airplane could give about 100 people a job, and this is why I decided to go into aviation because I wanted to create jobs.”
According to the vision of the airline: “To expand locations both domestically and beyond as the largest and most profitable airline company to achieve safe, efficient and affordable short and long haul services”, Air Peace comes on board with an unparalleled safety consciousness second to none, guaranteeing the satisfaction of our travelers across the Globe!
With seven Aircraft – 3 state of the art Dornier 328 Jets and 4 Boeing 737-500 sp (special performance) jets, travelers can be rest assured that their journeys will feel like holidays be you on vacation or a business trip.
All Aircraft are equipped with Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS 220) geared towards safety. This equipment is manufactured and installed on all the planes by Flight Aerospace Solutions Ltd (FLYHT) of Canada. FLYHT has a five-year contract with Air Peace to this end. One of the fundamentals of the AFIRS 220 is the monitoring of the Engine trend from take off to landing not only by the Pilot but also officials monitoring on ground.
That way, the engine performance is seen guaranteeing maximum safety. The AFIRS special features like Flight tracking, the automated engine data collection for real time trending, fuel management and satellite voice communications currently stand Air Peace out as one of the Airlines with such matchless safety strength in the world!
According to its local content policy, one of the major ideas behind setting up Air Peace is to create massive employment opportunities for Nigerians thereby contributing to the well-being of our people.
In view of this, Air Peace had with a huge cost, sent over 40 unemployed Nigerian Pilots to CAE, UK for evaluation and assessment prior to their eventual employment. Over 40 Nigerian graduate engineers were sent to Aircraft maintenance training facilities abroad for training in Aircraft maintenance.
“Through the people who work at Air Peace, we are able to achieve our corporate goals and long term vision. We implement a thorough recruitment policy across board that ensures the right people with the right skills are employed for all roles. The thorough training package which all the members of our team are exposed to explains our quest for excellence. This additional investment in our recruitment policy ensures that only the best and most qualified eventually work for us.
“We recognise that positive growth and sustainability can only be achieved with talented and skilled people. We believe in equipping every sphere of our team to bring out the very best in them. This is why we implement a best – practice approach to training, learning and development. We are committed to continuous learning and development for our people. We constantly encourage and engage our people to test their skills and develop new ones. We do this by giving them responsibilities as early as possible and also by offering varying career and learning opportunities and positive challenges to ensure growth in the workplace.
“We are here to help people achieve their career and personal ambitions – in the right way. We express our commitment and dedication to our people by measuring and rewarding them, both on commercial results and how they live our P.E.A.C.E Values and bring them to life every day.
“At Air Peace, we are striving to become Nigeria’s airline of choice for all your travel needs by providing a unique travel experience with safe, professional, and reliable service at an affordable price”, information on its website says.
The airline serves the major cities in Nigeria including Abuja, Lagos, Asaba, Port-Harcourt, Owerri, Kebbi and Enugu.
Air Peace fleet consist of three Donier 328; four B737-500 and one Boeing 737 Classic (Boeing 737-300). Onyema has been a vocal voice against unfavorable policy, especially as it relates to outright cancellation of multiple entries for foreign airlines in Nigeria.
Apart from this, he also recently called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to revise the mandatory 18 months timeline given operators to carry out C- check on all aircraft flying in the country .
He was moved by the heavy amount of money being spent on aircraft maintenance in Nigeria since there is no major hangar.
Sade Williams