Air Midwest, Nigeria’s latest domestic airline, will begin operation in a few days, P.M.NEW has learnt. Last month, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) granted Air Midwest the airline Operator Certificate (AOC) needed to start flying.
The Managing Director of the airline, Captain Victor Aigbokhain, told journalists recently that the AOC was issued on 20 June 2010. Aigbokhain disclosed that Air Midwest will begin operating scheduled flights on Lagos-Abuja, Lagos-Owerri, Lagos-Benin, Lagos-Port Harcourt and Lagos-Kano routes.
A source told PM.NEWS that the airline may receive its second aircraft this weekend and start flying by next week. According to NCAA’s rules and regulations, an airline needs at least two aircraft to start operation.
Meanwhile, P.M.NEWS learnt that Nigeria’s one time leading airline, Okada Air, is planning to come back, eight years after it went off the skies.
The project coordinator, Dr. Steve Mahonwu, told Business Travel Weekly that “all operational details are getting to the final stage and very soon Okada Air will be back to the air.â€
Mahonwu disclosed that the airline’s Air Travel Licence (ATL) has about two years to expire.
“So we want to begin operation before then and put other things in place to bring the airline back to flight,†he said.
He said Okada Air will have its headquarters in Benin, the Edo State capital, Southern Nigeria.
Last year under heavy debts, at least three airlines collapsed. The airlines are Bellview, Afrijet and Capital Airlines.
—Simon Ateba
