Foremost Nigerian airline, Air Peace, in a bid to commence its long-haul flight operations had its demonstration flight yesterday. The demonstration flight which was embarked on with its B777 aircraft was flown into Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Dakar on Tuesday by Air Peace Chief Pilot, Capt. Victor Egonu and Senior First Officer Emmanuel Iwhiwhu.
The demonstration flight which had NCAA inspectors on board was part of the airline’s preparations for its international flights, as mandated by the regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
While speaking, the Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah said, “The non-revenue flights to demonstrate our capabilities with the Boeing 777 next will be visits to Kano, Port Harcourt, Freetown, Johannesburg and Sharjah. This is what goes into ensuring the safety of our valued customers and crew; it is costly but necessary.”
The airline which had earlier broken its connecting flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone stated that it would no longer route its Lagos-Banjul flights through Accra, Ghana, and that it now operates a drirect Lagos-Freetown-Lagos flights.
The airline also said it was consolidating its leadership of air services on the West Coast of Africa with scheduling of more flights on the Accra, Ghana route.
According to Iwarah, thisdevelopment will avail travellers an opportunity to cut cost and travel time.
He said, “We are pleased to announce the commencement of our non-stop flights to Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia, from Monday, January 7, 2019. We had routed our flights to Banjul through Accra, Ghana. The new schedule follows our experiment with direct flights from Lagos to Freetown. The pieces of feedback we have received from members of the flying public indicate that they prefer to take direct flights to Freetown and Banjul. The option saves air travellers money and time.
“We have also increased our offering on the Lagos-Accra with more flights. The new Banjul and Accra flight operations, we are sure, will not only deepen our West Coast operations, but also deliver a variety of smart options to our valued customers. We are a customer-centric airline and the strategy of our leadership of the airline business in Nigeria and West Africa is anchored on attaching great importance to the feedback of our esteemed customers.”
