Air Peace Records Milestone, Airlifts 55 Million Passengers in Eight Years
Chinedu Eze
Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace has announced that it has airlifted over 55 million passengers since the last eight years it started flight operation.
The airline, which started schedule flight service in 2014, said it has strengthened the industry by adding capacity that put it in leadership role. It stated that it has airlifted the highest number of passengers daily and operated the highest number of aircraft.
This was as the airline also reaffirmed its commitment to providing seamless domestic, regional and international connectivity to Nigerians and others through strategic route expansion, increased network options and modern fleet expansion.
The Chief Operating Officer, Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide, said airlifting over 55 million passengers in just eight years was a giant stride and a testament to the steady growth trajectory of the airline.
She stated that Air Peace recorded passenger load of 52,859 in its launch year, 2014, and the number increased to eight million in 2019, adding that in December 2022, the airline airlifted 14,103,018 passengers.
The airline in a statement disclosed that 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
“When we launched in 2014 with a record fleet of seven aircraft, we had a future-proof blueprint, driven by the vision to reduce the air travel burden of Nigerians through the 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.
“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 said.
She also disclosed that the airline was planning to launch London, Israel, India, Congo Kinshasa, Togo and Malabo this year, adding that more frequencies would be added to Accra, Monrovia, Freetown, Banjul and Dakar routes with more connections introduced locally.
Air Peace leads Nigeria’s aviation industry with a network of twenty domestic routes, seven regional routes and three international destinations, with an increasing, mixed modern fleet comprising Boeing 777, Boeing 737, Embraer 195-E2, Airbus 320, ERJ 145 and Dornier 328 Jet.
