Akwa Ibom govt to recapitalise Ibom Air with N14 billion

Ibom Air, a commercial airline owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, is to be recapitalised with N14 billion.

The approval for the recapitalisation was given on Friday at the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council meeting in Uyo, the State Commissioner of Information, Ini Ememobong, disclosed this in an excerpt of the meeting published on Facebook.

It came about two weeks after the airline announced that it was set to begin regional flights to seven African countries in April.

Ibom Air, in November 2021, signed an agreement with Airbus for the purchase of 10 A220 aircraft to boost its fleet, an addition that will see the airline flying to Central and West African countries.

The Group Manager, Marketing and Communication for the airline, Annie Essienette, had in a statement earlier in the month listed Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire as countries covered under the planned expansion.

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Ibom Air, which launched its maiden flight in June 2019, is rated as one of the most successful airlines in the country.

The airline with seven aircraft (five Bombardier CR900 and two Airbus A220-300) in its fleet, flies 11 routes covering six cities in the country – Abuja, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Lagos, Uyo.

It won the best airline of the year award consecutively in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and is ranked the best airline by the Travellers award.

Parameters considered by the award committee include average age of aircraft, scheduled integrity, and inflight services, and total number of flights done.

The airline on 16 December 2022 recorded its 2 millionth passenger since it began commercial flights.