The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has commended Air Peace for their Lagos-London route, which he said has helped to reduce the pressure on the Nigerian currency: the Naira as against the US Dollars.

Keyamo made the observation Friday night, during Air Peace’s inaugural flight ceremony held at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

Air Peace on Friday, 29th March commenced its daily flight to Gatwick London with its Boeing 777 fully loaded with passengers.


Speaking at the ceremony, Keyamo said that the Tinubu-led government is going to ensure that they support local operators in accessing aircraft lease arrangements like what Air Peace is doing.

Keyamo pointed out that Nigeria had been on the blacklist when it comes to dry lease arrangements because of the previous experiences of the lessors.

He said, “Nigeria is on a blacklist to get these dry leases. That is part of what I have been undertaking since I came. I have been trying to assure the world and aircraft manufacturers, like Airbus, that we can protect their assets when they bring them into Nigeria. This is because what they want is whether we can allow them to take these assets when there are breaches of agreements”.

“The problem they always face is that when they bring their assets into the country, and there is a breach sometimes, because of court injunctions and local politics, they can no longer take their aircraft away. It is a huge loss to them. What they want is that they should be able to take these assets away when there is a breach. How do we do this? It is the government that will assure these creditors that please bring in your aircraft.”

Keyamo also noted that with Air Peace on the London route, there will be no problem with trapped funds, adding that the aviation company is a local company and that the government does not have to repatriate the sale of tickets to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

By doing so, the Minister stated that under such a situation, Nigeria would be liquid enough in terms of foreign exchange to repatriate those funds.

He said: “All the airlines that come into Nigeria, what they experience is massive repatriation of funds that puts pressure on the Naira because they have to seek for dollars, both the commercial banks and CBN. This new development eases the pressure on Naira because this is a Nigerian company that deals in naira and buys in naira. The only problem is that they still have to go abroad whenever they want to service their aircraft. So one of my major objectives is to bring the MRO into Nigeria. That is very important. The key to unlocking this industry is to ensure that MRO comes into the country as quickly as possible. The Chinese, Arabs, and Americans are talking to us. They all want to come and do something. For now, we have a choice because everybody wants to come in and invest in Nigeria because of the new approach of governance to investors.

On why airlines that operated the London route previously did not survive, the Minister said “The reason why previous airlines on the London Route did not survive is not because of the politics of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). It is about access to aircraft on favourable terms. We are going to pray for Air Peace and pray for Allen that he can sustain this. This is because he is doing this at great expense, even at marginal profit or loss to challenge and it is going to get better”.

In his remark, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite commended the airline, emphasising that Air Peace’s presence in London is not merely about arrivals and departures but about trade, investment, and collaboration.

By choosing Air Peace, Dr Uzoma noted that such customers have chosen to invest in Nigeria, empower local businesses, create jobs, and strengthen our economy.

To our esteemed passengers, I say this: Your choice to fly with Air Peace is a vote of confidence. Air Peace has a commendable safety record, they hold a 7 out of 7 safety rating according to Airline Ratings and the airline has successfully undergone the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification four times, signifying its commitment to rigorous safety standards. So I entreat all potential passengers to trust them to carry you safely across continents, and remember that you are part of a movement—a movement that encourages Nigerians to patronize their own”, the Minister added.

Also speaking at the event, Chairman/CEO of Air Peace, Dr Allen Onyema said Air Peace’s foray into the Lagos-London route is a testimony that Nigeria can handle the route.

Dr Onyema said the Air Peace foray into the Lagos-London route has made a whole lot of changes in the Nigerian economy, saving the country billions of Naira.

” You saw what has happened in the last one week. An airline came out and brought all the International airlines to their knees by bringing down the fares where they were supposed to be. When it happened all the foreign airlines started scampering for cover and they all came down overnight within 24 hours from 15 million to N5 and economy from N5m to N1.8m, N1.9m. This event has saved this country billions of Naira in the last three weeks. It has also helped in improving the value of the Naira against the dollar. What happened was that these foreign airlines were taking N15m and charging exorbitantly and they had so much money in their hands.”

Explaining further, the airline operator added “They took so much money to go to the market to look for dollars, putting a strain on the Naira. Now that we have done this, people are paying what they are supposed to pay and there is less demand for dollars because fewer Naira now is chasing the dollars and the thing came down also. So Air Peace has contributed in bringing the dollar rates down apart from all the measures put in place by President Bola Tinubu. I thank the president and his team. We are being supported”.

In her remark, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku said FAAN is fully prepared for Air Peace’s operations in London, adding it has been a moment they have been waiting for.

“We are prepared. We have been waiting for this event for quite a while. It’s with great delight and pleasure to see Air Peace take off to London tonight. We have been working closely with the airline. As you can see, we have made provision for them in terms of necessary infrastructure. We got the checking counter available and we made sure we had the right security apparatus and of course that they had the right slots and landing aids. Again being one of our very own, we will continue to support them. We have to support Nigerians at crucial times.”

christejames:
Time for propaganda is now activated





Be guided guys!




Congratulations to Air Peace though!

bmaster2000:
Jagaban government still help Ibo investment to thrive ....Air peace was available during GEJ but ....it will only operate as a local carrier ...now Jagaban government progress his business from local to an international carrier ...and yet...all these people still hate Jagaban ....what do you want ?

And Jagaban government will still help so many local airline in Nigeria to become international carrier .....if you are not happy with it , drink poison and die ...Jagaban till 2031

Richtaiwo:

I doubt ipobidients understand the meaning of that word, propaganda. As it is now, any news about Nigeria and the govt is tagged propaganda.

seunmsg:
Kudos to the Mr. President and the Hon. Minister for this achievement. It’s a big breakthrough for Nigeria’s aviation industry. Congratulations to Air Peace.

AcuraZDX:


Igbo Amaka.

Richtaiwo:
The pressure will further reduce significantly when the products of Dangote and PH refineries finally hit the market. By then, Ipobidients will hit the streets with placards screaming propaganda. Their dreams and prayers is that Nigeria should never get out of the woods because Nigerians rejected a packaged fraud.

LOVEALAIGBO:


The Dangote refinery was built inspite of your god Tinubu! Had Nigeria been a true nation and did things without recourse to ethno-religious considerations, then Air Peace, being the largest airline in Nigeria, would have commenced this Lagos-London daily flights years ago! What prevented this from happening till now is all down to envy, bigotry, and a misplaced sense of superiority over the Igbo by Buhari and the ethno-religious mob in his gov’t! That the flights have finally began with the Tinubu gov’t obviously is a credit to them, but the Nigerian gov’t didn’t push hard enough for a quid-pro-quo arrangement between Nigeria and the UK in the spirit of the bilateral air services agreement (i think that’s what it’s called) which would have seen a Nigerian carrier (doesn’t have to be Air Peace) use the UK primary airport of Heathrow just as we let them use ours!

By ’packaged fraud’ are you by any chance referring to Peter Obi? If so, you’re being deceitful at best by claiming Nigerians’ ‘rejected’ him! Peter Obi won the last presidential election by a mile, but was rigged into 3rd place by the merciless, ruthless and efficient Tinubu/Buhari rigging blueprint! The ‘needful’ was done safe in the knowledge that all angles were covered and all possible outcomes considered and taken care of….even the last bus-stop of the supreme court was in their pocket! This was why they could brazenly and confidently rig the entire electoral process, then turn around and cockily tell you to ‘GO TO COURT’!

muhammaduyusufu:
As expected. I only hope people will patronize the airline. We Nigerians too like foreign stuff. Although, a good percentage won't buy the ticket because it lands in Gatwick and not Heathrow. I won't be suprised that some will actually not buy because peace would be seen as a local airline.

seunmsg:


On this side, we don’t care about ethnicity. We only do what is right for the country. Low IQ folks like you and Peter Obi can keep rolling in the pool of ethnic bigotry, that’s your problem.

DrAkpamudehe:


Illiterate

chukwuemekafran:
you were the least person to see commenting here especially when an igbo man was receiving the accolades.
You hate the southeast with no reason but you love it when they help your god achieve things .
Igbo amaka
Igbo is love

Slytiger:

We have had local airline fly to London Heathrow in the past but I don't know don't know why it went under. My first trip to London was via a local airline called Bellview. I would have to read up on why it went defunct.

seunmsg:


On this side, we don’t care about ethnicity. We only do what is right for the country. Low IQ folks like you and Peter Obi can keep rolling in the pool of ethnic bigotry, that’s your problem.

Oloki:
Wiho read am finish, make him summarize

bmaster2000:
Jagaban government still help Ibo investment to thrive ....Air peace was available during GEJ but ....it will only operate as a local carrier ...now Jagaban government progress his business from local to an international carrier ...and yet...all these people still hate Jagaban ....what do you want ?

And Jagaban government will still help so many local airline in Nigeria to become international carrier .....if you are not happy with it , drink poison and die ...Jagaban till 2031

Mindlog:


Air Peace started flying international routes after May 29, 2023....guy, make sure you tell your psychiatrist in your next appointment say make e change your medication, d one whey you dey take now, no dey work again as your delusional episodes just dey increase.😂😂😂😂

bmaster2000:
Jagaban government still help Ibo investment to thrive ....Air peace was available during GEJ but ....it will only operate as a local carrier ...now Jagaban government progress his business from local to an international carrier ...and yet...all these people still hate Jagaban ....what do you want ?

And Jagaban government will still help so many local airline in Nigeria to become international carrier .....if you are not happy with it , drink poison and die ...Jagaban till 2031

marvrick:



You're very myopic and I won't be surprised if you're one of those agbadorians littering the whole place with selfdeceit. Your drug baron, certificate-forging president needs every agency that can help in bringing down the dollar naira exchange rate and Air Peace happens to be one of the best ways to do this.

Idiot.