Akwa Ibom State Government under Governor Udom Emmanuel made history by being the first state to launch a commercial airline business, known as Ibom Air. Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel in a speech at the event said the launch of the airline was a monumental achievement for his administration. He explained that the two aircraft purchased for the launch of operations had a sitting capacity of about 90 persons. They also constitute the newest and modern fleet of the aircraft manufactured by Canadian Airbus.

However, Technical Consultant of Ibom Air, Mfon Udom explained that the state aims to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs with the airline and also enhance the acquisition of technical skills by indigenes of the state who would benefit from aeronautical training as pilots, engineers, cabin crew, flight dispatchers, as well as ticketing and reservation jobs, among others.

“Ibom Air will employ 300 people initially; but 3,000 people will be involved in Ibom Air much later, excellent mangers have been selected to run the airline,” Udom said.

“The plan is for Ibom Air to be a regional airline.  Ibom Air will fly three frequencies a day from Uyo to Lagos, morning, afternoon, evening. The policy of Ibom Air is that Ibom Air will fly when our customers want to fly and not when it wants to fly. All successful airlines in the world is government owned; British airways is still supported by government,” he added.

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While two of the aircrafts, CRJ 900 series from Canada with registration C-FWNL and C-FWNK arrived the state last week Wednesday for the commencement of operation, the third in the fleet arrived on Friday, February 22, another one is expected in August 2019, while three others are expected in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

“The Ibom Air project commenced about three years ago and has been made possible by the support of Governor Emmanuel. The governor came up with the drive and we carried it out. Ibom Air is one of the vehicles to drive Akwa Ibom and the state will benefit immensely from this,” Udom said.

The two aircraft that have arrived Uyo are about six years old since being manufactured and were unveiling by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki at the Victor Attah International Stadium, Uyo.

He noted that Akwa Ibom is the only state in the country to run a state owned airport and run an airline, adding that the government is running Ibom Air as a business. The Akwa Ibom State Governor had explained that Ibom Air will operate routes that would give preference to Akwa Ibom people, and that the government would soon launch one of the best terminal buildings in this country.