Yesterday, the Akwa Ibom state government rolled out the drums to celebrate the addition of the 5th aircraft in its Ibom Air fleet. Celebrating the feat at the airport grounds in Uyo, the state government was full of praises for the team of the airport management and the staff of the Ibom Air company for keeping the dream which started last year, oyogist.com reports.
The state government, back in 2019, ventured into the aviation business by launching the multi-million naira worth of investment when it first took delivery of two aircraft – CRJ 900 series with registration C-FWNL and C-FWNK. The third aircraft which was billed to arrive from Canada also landed in the state February 2019.
Around May this year, the state-owned flight company again, took delivery of one more aircraft, making it the fourth aircraft in its fleet.
Ibom air was initiated by the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and has received accolades as being the only state owned private flight company currently making the country proud.
It is on record that Imo state had started a flight company but had to shut down for obvious reasons.
Receiving the 5th plane today, the governor expressed happiness that what started as a little venture has grown to become a reference point in the Nigerian aviation industry.
As seen on the live video on the state’s government facebook page, the aircraft, a bombardier CRJ900 series which touched down at the airport during the ceremony, was flown by a female pilot, Captain Ruth Adebayor.
The bombardier aircraft, with registration number 5N-BXO, had earlier arrived Lagos from Calgary, Canada since 01 August 2020 but officially arrived the state today after passing through some test with the aviation specialists to certify it ok for flight.
