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Air Peace Airline over the weekend commenced its ‘no-city-left-behind’ project with the launch of separate inaugural flight from the Murtala Muhammed Airport domestic terminal (MMA2), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja into and out of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The ‘no-city-left-behind’ project by Air Peace is targeted at providing air transportation to some of airports and airstrips in Nigeria and West Africa that are often considered as economically not viable by airlines such as the NAF Base airstrip in Port Harcourt.
The carrier, had last year (2018) purchased six 50-seater Embraer 145 aircraft which it said it would be deploying to actualise its goal of unifying Nigeria through air transport and extending its flight operations to unserved and underserved airports through the ‘no-city-left-behind’ project. Air Peace, had also incorporated a subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper to manage the no-city-left-behind project.
Spokesman for Air Peace, Mr. Chris Iwarah described the launch of the flight under the new subsidiary to the Port Harcourt NAF base as a fulfilment of promise made to numerous passengers who had demanded that the airline should open up the route.
“Our customers had yearned for the extension of our flight operations to the Port Harcourt NAF Base and we are quite pleased to respond to their request to enter the route,” Iwarah said.
On his part, the Managing Director and CEO of OAS Helicopters, Captain Evarest Nnaji, who is also the operator of the OAS Terminal at the Port Harcourt NAF Base said decision to accommodation Air Peace in the facility was taken in order to enhance the movement of oil and gas workers to and from different parts of the country to the base.
“This terminal was designed and delivered with the sensitivity and stringent standard associated with oil and gas aviation security and safety in mind, taking into account the reliability and predictability desirous of a facility that supports 24/7 high net worth operations,” said Nnaji.
“First we conceived a large facility capable of supporting operations way more than we expect to utilise in near future; we therefore have enough space to share…”
Second, oil and gas operators seem very comfortable with Air Peace judging the number of expatriates you see on Air Peace flights, so when they approached us to use the facility we had no problem accommodating that, and I think they are happy. The facility is the best you can find around here as it meets all international oil and gas aviation standards which is usually way higher than regular commercial aviation,” Nnaji said.
He also explained that additional investment would be made in the expansion of the facility within the next 24 months. “We will install a state-of-the-art new generation helicopter maintenance hangar, which has not been found anywhere else in Africa,” he added.
