Page 24 - World Airnews February Magazine Edition 2021

AFRICA

LAGOS – JOHANNESBURG

ROUTE OPENS

By Wole Oyebade

and our capacity,” he said. capacity on the South African route when
He said, “The fact that Air Peace is going it repatriated over 600 Nigerians for free,
igerian carrier, Air Peace airlines, there is certainly going to improve the bilat- during the 2019 xenophobic crisis.
Nhas re-established air connecti vi- eral trade relations. The trade is no longer The commercial flight, which departed

ty between Nigeria and South Africa, oper- going to be one-sided. Trade and movement Lagos at 2 am had a fairly large turnout of

ating its maiden direct commercial flight on can now be better facilitated directly and passengers and arrived at the OR Tambo

the Lagos-Johannesburg route. in six hours, rather than having to travel International Airport, Johannesburg, to the

The services, already dubbed as a around Africa connecting multiple flights. traditional water salute.

strategic entry into the route erstwhile We look forward to giving this convenience The chief operating officer of the airline,
dominated by Arik Air and defunct South and comfort even at a greater height. Toyin Olajide, said the plan was to have

African Airways (SAA), will boost trade ties “Six years ago when we started, we daily flights on the route, but beginning

between Nigeria and South Africa, and con- promised Nigerians that we were not only with the current schedule of twice-weekly

nect west and southern regions in about going to connect cities in Nigeria but would flights - Thursdays and Sundays.
six-hour travel time. connect the country with the rest of the Olajide on arrival in South Africa de-

As an achievement for the airline in its world. And gradually, we are getting there.” scribed the operation as a huge achieve-

sixth year of operations, the inaugural flight He said the route is largely vacant with ment for the airline and Nigeria as a whole,

on Boeing 777 aircraft was dispatched with the redundancy of SAA and Air Peace rec- especially at these difficult times.

a toast at the Murtala Muhammed Inter- ognises that there would be other inter- “It is not just Air Peace coming to South

national Airport (MMIA), Lagos. It was the ested competitors on the route, “but our Africa, but our airline uniting the two coun-

second international route of Air Peace af- pragmatic strategy and business plan will tries, deepening trade relations and creating

ter Lagos-Dubai services opened last year. help us sustain the tempo.” new jobs. To do this, Air Peace needed more
Chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, “We have been following our business manpower both in Nigeria and South Africa.

said it was another milestone for the carri- plan since 2014 meticulously. Everything we Those are new jobs that we have just cre-
er, especially coming at a downtime period said we would do then, by the grace of God, ated. The more we expand, the greater the

in global aviation. we have been able to achieve. We believe opportunities for service providers.
Onyema said though preparations for that we can do more with strategic planning. “So, coming to South Africa is a big

the route had been long in coming and So, the era of saying that Nigerian airlines development in the right direction. South

earlier launch attempt was scuttled by the are pushover is gone forever. All we need is Africans can see Nigerian indigenous carri-

COVID-19 lockdown. the enabling environment to perform and ers bring much love to them, as nationals
“We have remained committed to serving I assure you that we will perform far more travel both ways. That can only mean

Nigerian interest, and this seeing the light than your expectations,” Onyema said. more unity between the two countries,”

of the day is a demonstration of courage Air Peace had earlier demonstrated its Olajide said. Q
World Airnews | February 2021
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