Victor EzejaSince its inception of operations, Air Peace has been on the news for one success story or the other, ranging from expansion of routes, growing of fleet size, excellent customer service experience to contribution to entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
The airline which has become a leading carrier in not just Nigeria but the entire Sub-Saharan Africa, has airlifted over 55 million passengers in the last eight years.
Beginning flight services in 2014, the airline has recorded significant milestones in various aspects of its operations, even with the prevailing challenges in the aviation sector not just in Nigeria but globally.
By relentlessly birthing uncommon innovative strategies in aviation business, the company has continued to strengthen the industry and adding capacity that puts it at the top.
This has seen the airline operating the highest number of aircraft and recording the highest number of airlifted passengers on daily basis.
Speaking on the record 55 million passenger airlifts in just eight years, Chief Operating Officer, Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide, said it is a reflection of the steady growth trajectory of the airline.
According to a statement released by the airline, with a record fleet of seven aircraft when it launched operations in 2014, it had 52,859 passenger loads. One year later, it recorded a sharp increase of 661,875 in 2015 and scored a one million mark (1,832,526) in 2016; over three million in 2017; and six million in 2018.
The number increased to eight million in 2019.
As at December 2022, its yearly record showed that it airlifted over 14 million passengers to various destinations.
According to the statement from the airline, the detailed record of its passenger airlift since inception were as follows:
2014 – 52,859; 2015 – 661,875;
2016 – 1,832,526; 2017 – 3,538,102;
2018 – 6,060,329; 2019 – 8,491,758;
2020 – 9,634,235; 2021 – 11,446,556;
and 2022 – 14,103,018
Investing in Good aircraft and best Technical manpower
Giving details of the secret behind the success story, the airline said that when it launched in 2014 with a record fleet of seven aircraft, it had a vision of easing the air traffic burden faced by Nigerians through provision of safe and world-class flight services.
“To achieve this, we strategically invested in the right kind of aircraft, factoring business sustainability and customer experience while also hiring and training the best technical manpower to drive the process,” Olajide stated.
The airline which offers both scheduled passenger and charter flight services, flies to many cities in Nigeria and several international destinations in Africa, Asia and Middle East. Some of the routes include Accra, Freetown, Monrovia, Dakar, Banjul, Johannesburg, Dubai, and connects to about 23 other destinations.
The airline now has 38 aircraft of different types in its fleet (Airbus A320, Boeing 737, Dornier Do-328, Embraer E2, ERJ, etc.) with Average Fleet Age of 19 years. It is also expecting more to boost operations in its routes that keep expanding both in domestic, regional and international front.
“Now, we have 38 aircraft and are still expecting eight brand new Embraer 195-E2s from our firm order in 2019 and additional 15 brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 and 10 Order, as we ramp up plans to strengthen our operations to serve our esteemed customers better.
“We are also expecting some of our aircraft undergoing maintenance overseas and by second quarter this year, they will start returning. We are extremely grateful to our customers and other critical stakeholders for their support and urge them to keep supporting Air Peace. We promise to further inter-connect more cities across Nigeria and beyond and improve in our service delivery,” Olajide stated.
In total, it has seven regional routes and three international destinations.
Among the domestic airlines currently operating in Nigeria, Air Peace could boast of brand new planes in its fleet. Such brands include E2 from Embraer, Airbus A320, Boeing B737, and more.
In 2021, Air Peace was among top five airlines that operated international flights from Nigeria.
In July 2022, Air Peace began flight operations to Guangzhou, China, becoming the first Nigerian airline to fly into the Asian country with scheduled weekly flights.
READ ALSO: Grit And Tenacity, Hallmarks Of Air Peace Boss, Allen Onyema
With one of its flagship aircraft, Boeing B777, that operated the inaugural flight from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos to Guangzhou, China, it recorded full load factor of 240 passengers.
The Chief Operating Officer disclosed that the airline was planning to launch flight operations in Mumbai, India, Tel Aviv in Israel, London, Congo Kinshasa, Togo and Malabo this year, while more frequencies would be added to Accra, Monrovia, Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes with more connections introduced locally.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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