Akwa Ibom State owned airline, Ibom Air has been issued with Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued Air Operator’s Licence (AOC) African Business Travel News (A,BTN) has learnt.
With this, the airline is certified to begin scheduled flight operations in the country.
The issuance of the AOC to the airline was confirmed to ABTN by a reliable source at NCAA on Thursday in Lagos.
It would be recalled that Akwa Ibom State government in February this year, announced the arrival of three Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft with 90 passenger capacity each as the first set of aircraft in the fleet of the state own airline.
The airline is scheduled to operate on Uyo-Lagos-Abuja route.
According to a statement from the airline’s website, the airline had to go through a painstakingly thorough certification process in order to be given the ‘nod’ to operate.
“Based on our commitment to operate to world class standards, Ibom Air submitted itself totally to the process. The process in Nigeria, in terms of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations, is designed to take at least nine months to complete. In the case of Ibom Air, we are pleased to say that we completed the process under seven months.
“Ibom Air commends the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for the objective, professional, competent and thorough manner in which it has conducted our certification process thus far. All our three aircraft were ferried into Nigeria from Canada on their Canadian registration, which is normal, for insurance purposes.
“But as soon as they arrived in Nigeria, they were de-registered from Canada and assumed their Nigerian registration (5N-BWK, 5N-BWL and 5N-BWM respectively), which they have borne until today,” said the airline
