The Akwa Ibom State government continued, on Tuesday, added a fourth aircraft to the fleet of the state-owned Ibom Air.
Speaking during the delivery of a Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft, the governor, Udom Emmanuel said that the aircraft was still within warranty of planes in the domestic aviation and that its arrival was in fulfilment of the business case and operational timetable that had been set by the government.
“This is the latest in the addition to this fleet. I don’t want to be boastful, but check the domestic flights in Africa. I want to believe when you have an airplane that is still within warranty in the domestic aviation, you can hit your chest and praise yourself, even if no one does [that].
“We had a dream and I shared that dream with just one man; we held our hands and started the documentation; the dream dates back to 2016, not just now. When they needed documentation, we were almost ready.
“The experts have said a lot about the quality of the aircrafts we are having. This one, you don’t have to be afraid of coronavirus. No COVID-19 can attack you in this one. The air efficiency that we have in it is super, so nothing to fear.
“Also, our safety standards remain to be beaten by any other airline. Even the way we decontaminate our airline after each flight, our hygiene regulations remain the best of the best.”
Udom stated the desire of the state government to dominate the industry and put the airline on the air transport map of Africa.
“We want to really dominate this industry with our services, the quality of our aircraft and the quality and professionalism of our own personnel. We have people to sell; we have services to sell and we have the best of the best of the aircrafts to sell,” Emmanuel said.
He described the air efficiency of the aircraft as “super”, adding that with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which helped to remove contaminated air from the cabin, passengers need not fear COVID-19.
The governor noted that plans were underway to make Ibom Air dominate the aviation industry in Nigeria and the entire Africa continent in terms of services, professionalism and quality of aircraft.
He stated that the safety standards of Ibom Air remained unbeaten, and the hygiene regulations the best.
