Domestic Airlines Need Support, Says Air Peace Boss
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has said domestic carriers should be given more support by the government and people of the country.
Onyema stated this while receiving the airline’s third Boeing 777 aircraft, acquired for international flight operations.
He said domestic carriers had not been receiving the kind of support they deserved and required to grow from both the government and the people.
“All we need at this point in time is support from the government and from the people of Nigeria and not disruptive tendencies. I created Air Peace to give back to Nigeria, so, we need to look at the potential number of families that each aircraft we bring in will feed. I am not receiving same kind of acknowledgement I get outside in Nigeria,” he said.
He stated that Air Peace aimed to make the country proud of its own and to change the narrative that Nigerian airlines were not doing well.
Meanwhile, the airline, on Monday elevated two members of its flight crew to the rank of captain, and urged them to sustain the high safety standards the carrier is reputed for.
Speaking during the decoration of Mr Oluwasegun Fatonade and Mr William Devine as captains, Onyema said he was proud that they passed the tough tests of becoming captains.
The rigorous requirements the new captains were subjected to, he said, were necessary to ensure they were qualified for the high quality of the airline’s flight operations.
He stated that the airline would continue to reward excellence as a pro-staff organisation and ensure that its workers were promoted without regard to ethnicity and favouritism.
Onyema said, “I am one of the happiest persons today. I take pride in seeing people grow. We are pro-staff. In our own little way, we try to ensure that members staff enjoy their time here. Anyone can become anything they want to be here without discrimination.
“I don’t meddle in matters involving selection and elevation of our flight crew. It is strictly on merit. For the flight crew training team to have adjudged the new captains worthy of flying Air Peace, they really must be good. It says a lot about their quality.
“The tough tests they passed through before being selected for elevation as captains were necessary to ensure the sustenance of the high standards of our flight operations. It is not everyone that was tested that made it. I urge the new captains to continue to work hard to sustain the high quality of our flight operations. The position of a captain is one that comes with huge responsibility, but I have no doubt they will excel in their new roles.”
