Air Peace emerges airline of the year, pledges to sustain standards

West Africa’s leading carrier, Air Peace on Thursday pledged to sustain its high safety standards and continue to strive to bring Nigeria honour in the global aviation industry after emerging Airline of the Year at Independent Awards 2018 held in Lagos.

Organisers of the awards, Independent Newspapers Limited said the airline was chosen for impacting the aviation industry in many great ways.

In a letter to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Independent Newspapers Limited, publishers of Daily Independent, Saturday Independent and Sunday Independent, Mr Ade Ogidan said: “The Selection Committee considered how you have redefined flight operations in Nigeria by bringing to bear a regime of safety and comfort for travellers at a phenomenal level.

“Your leadership in the Nigerian aviation industry is loud enough for all to see. For instance, in September 2018, Air Peace signed an agreement with Boeing for the acquisition of 10 new 737 MAX 8 aircraft, making history as the first airline in West Africa to add such airliner to its fleet.

“Besides, your company also set a new record with the acquisition of Boeing 777 aircraft, making you the first and only Nigerian airline to procure and register the brand of airliner in the country.

"Its arrival, no doubt, has further expanded your service profile to several other countries.

“Since you commenced flight operations, we observed with satisfaction that your organisation has been able to focus on developing a customer-centric brand personality that speaks to safety, innovation, dynamism, comfort, fun, sincerity, affordability and quality service.

"These corporate traits have given you a unique identity in the Nigerian aviation industry.”

Meanwhile, Air Peace has dedicated its Airline of the Year 2018 award to its loyal customers, saying it was grateful for the support given it to excel in its flight operations.

It pledged to sustain the high standards of its flight operations and bring Nigeria honour in the global aviation industry with its planned international flights to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Houston, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai and Johannesburg.

It commended Independent Newspapers for boldly recognising merit, saying the company had acted consistent with the brand integrity it had been reputed for in the media industry. 

The carrier, which acquired six 50-seater Embraer 145 jets, four Boeing 777s and a couple of Boeing 737 aircraft in 2018, also signed a contract for the delivery of 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in September and set a record with the establishment of a subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.

The airline launched a number of domestic routes, including Kaduna, Kano Yola and Asaba in the period under review as well as expanded its foray into the West Coast of Africa by adding Freetown, Banjul, Dakar and Monrovia to its Accra operations under its no-city-left-behind project.

Dana Air Supports NGO to Raise Over N6m For Cancer Patients

Dana Air has supported a Cancer-fighting nongovernmental organization – Project PinkBlue, to raise over six millon to support people impacted by cancer and treatment of two cancer patients at a music and comedy fundraising recently in Abuja.

According to the Executive Director of Project PinkBlue, Runcie C.W. Chidebe, “Our plan was to raise 100 million to support 56 cancer patients in Nigeria, however, we raised N6million plus. Yes, we didn’t meet our milestones, but, I am extremely happy that we have used the ‘Show Love’ event to express our commitment to support people impacted by cancer.

" With the donations we just paid for two patients’ treatment, one was for radiotherapy N600,000 and another chemotherapy. As people are redeeming their pledges, we would be getting them on treatment gradually.’’

‘’With the support of companies like Dana Air, Ministers, Senators, Celebrities and individuals here present, we are hopeful of meeting our target. I want to also specially thank Dana Air for consistently supporting us since 2015.

" Dana Air has shown that everything is possible and we are grateful and urge other corporate bodies to emulate the commitment and consistency that Dana Air has demonstrated in this fight against cancer. ‘’

Also commenting on the gesture, the Media and Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa said, we are glad to have impacted these patients positively and we hope to do more. We have been supporting initiatives like this since we started operations ten years ago and have touched the lives of many.

"We believe that a person must be healthy to be able to eat, read, work, and function well in the society and as you also know, health is wealth.’’

The event was hosted by Denrele Edun,  Alex Asogwa Unusual, former Big Brother star; Bella Anne Ndubuisi and Koboko Master, a Nigerian comedian and graced by supportive Nigerians  including: Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, The Governor of Kebbi State; Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, Wife of the Governor of Kebbi State, as Special Guest of Honour; Betty Anyawu Akeredolu, Wife of the Governor of Ondo State, H.E. Amina Abubakar Bello, Wife of the Governor of Niger State, Asia Ahmed El-Rufai, Wife of the Governor of Kaduna State; Sterling Tilley, Cultural Affairs Officer & representative to the U.S. Ambassador in Nigeria and many other dignitaries

Dana Air recently celebrated 10 years of service to Nigeria. The airline is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Owerri.

Air Peace lifts Unizik hospital with 550KVA generator

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema on Wednesday extended his philanthropy to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State with the donation of a 550KVA generator to the facility.

Making the donation to the teaching hospital, the Air Peace boss urged wealthy Nigerians to donate to the cause of humanity as government alone could not provide everything for the people.

The donation, he said, was Air Peace’s way of supporting Federal Government’s effort to upgrade facilities and provide infrastructure in the nation’s health sector.

“We are delighted to support the Federal Government’s effort to give facilities in the nation’s health sector a facelift and provide infrastructure. It is our collective responsibility to ensure the advancement of the cause of humanity.

“The donation of the 550KVA generator to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital is in line with Air Peace’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy. We have continued to blaze the trail in giving back to society, especially in the areas of security, peace and health.

"We appeal to other corporate organisations and wealthy Nigerians to generously donate to the cause of humanity. 

"The corporate world must be at the forefront of development of the nation through increased CSR projects,” Onyema said.

Speaking at the donation, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Anthony Igwegbe commended Onyema for the gesture.

He described the donor as a “silent philanthropist and performer” that should be emulated by other wealthy Nigerians.

The donation to the teaching hospital came less than two months after Onyema donated N70 million to the Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, Awka in Anambra State and pledged to establish Nigeria’s first Centre for Non-Violence and Peace Studies at the institution.

The Air Peace boss had also built and donated a police station at Uli in Anambra State in August 2016.

About two months later, Air Peace took its CSR project to Yobe State, where it donated relief materials worth millions of naira to internally-displaced persons’ camps in the state in October 2016.  

Dana Air Introduces ‘Mega Miles’ Promo….Rewards Travelers with N5,000 tickets

Dana Air has launched a Mega Miles promo which encourages its guests to book a return ticket and get miles good enough to get an upgrade from economy class to business class at no cost or pay for excess luggage using miles.

According to statement by the airline’s Media and Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, the offer is only for Dana miles members and the promo will run from 1^st of February to 31^st of March 2019. 

The promo entails guests to book return tickets on same reference within the period, quote their membership numbers when booking for miles to be credited within 24 hours.

‘We are pleased to announce the introduction of Mega Miles promo. It is strictly a promo to encourage members of our frequent flyer programme, to book return tickets to get Mega Miles, which can be explored for upgrade,  exchanged for free tickets, pay for excess, and lots of other cash-saving benefits.’’

‘This offer is also to encourage our guests to plan their trips, book return tickets to get massively rewarded for their membership and participation. Guests are advised to quote their membership numbers when booking.’’

‘’We have also started rewarding our guests with N5,000 tickets in the ongoing Dana Air/ MMA2 travelers reward promo.  This promo has seen the terminal record huge traffic and has also proven its capability to process good number of passengers with its ultra-modern facilities.’’

‘’To take advantage of the MMA2/ Dana Air travelers promo which is valid till August 2019, our esteemed guests are advised to fly Dana Air just four times from MMA2 to any of our destinations to get the 5^th ticket at N5000 only. We believe in offering more for less and rewarding loyalty and this promo is just one of the ways to demonstrate our commitment.’’

Dana Air recently bagged an award from an Akwa Ibom based group for its efficient service delivery, timely departures and for operating in accordance with global best practices.

The airline is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Owerri

Air Peace begins direct flights to Banjul, increases Accra service

Nigerian carrier, Air Peace says it will begin non-stop flights from Lagos to Banjul, The Gambia, from Jan. 7.

The airline made the announcement in a statement signed by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, on Sunday in Lagos.

He said:” We are pleased to announce the commencement of our non-stop flights to Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia, from Jan. 7.

“We had routed our flights to Banjul through Accra, Ghana. The new schedule follows our experiment with direct flights from Lagos to Freetown.

“The pieces of feedback we have received from members of the flying public indicate that they prefer to take direct flights to Freetown and Banjul. The option saves air travellers money and time.”

He noted that the carrier had earlier broken its connecting flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone and now operates direct Lagos-Freetown-Lagos flights.

Iwarah, further, disclosed that Air Peace was consolidating its leadership of air services on the West Coast of Africa with scheduling of more flights on the Accra, Ghana route.

According to him, the development will avail travellers an exciting opportunity to cut cost and travel time.

He said the airline would continue to adjust its schedules to better serve its customers on the West Coast of Africa.

“We are a customer-centric airline and the strategy of our leadership of the airline business in Nigeria and West Africa is anchored on attaching great importance to the feedback of our esteemed customers,” Iwarah said.

Akwa Ibom RCFI Laud Dana Air’s Efficiency, On-time Performance

The Uyo chapter of the Royal Circle of Friends International has endorsed Dana Air’s efficiency and on-time performance at its Cultural and Award day held recently in Uyo.

Registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Royals is a social –cultural, Multilingual, and non partisan group with membership across the country and vocations. 

The President of the organization, Royal Uduak Okokon JP, while presenting the certificate and award to Dana Air said, ‘as part of our yearly rituals of always meeting to review our score card and return the thanks and praises to God for his goodness towards us as individuals and as a group, we wish to also recognize and appreciate individuals and companies that have contributed to the development of our state and have also impacted us positively with their services and activities.’’

‘Let me on behalf The Royals present you this certificate and award as the Best Airline of the Year 2018. This is in recognition of your efficient customer service, good customer relations, passenger handling, and timely day–to-day flight operations which has been observed over time to be in strict compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).’’

Speaking after receiving the award on behalf of Dana Air, the Uyo Station Manager, Ms Anthonia Aneke said ‘Dana Air will continue to do its best to offer excellent services and safe flight operations in accordance with standard and recommended practices.'' 

 'The people of Akwa Ibom are time-conscious and despite the upsurge in traffic across our destinations at the moment, we have maintained our operational efficiency with an excellent on-time performance and amazing customer and in-flight service. This has endeared us to the good people of Akwa Ibom state making us their choice for air travel.’’

Commenting further, Ms Anthonia said ‘Uyo is home to Dana Air considering the number of years we have been flying to the state and our longstanding relationship with the government and good people of Akwa Ibom state speaks volumes.  

'As the official airline of Akwa United and having been the preferred airline of one of the biggest Christmas Carols in the world- The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol festival, we are committed to only offering the best and we promise not to disappoint. We thank the good people of the state particularly, the Royal Circle of Friends for this recognition’’

Only recently, Dana Air  extended its multi-million naira sponsorship deal for the state owned club –Akwa united FC. The airline in July, bagged a global recognition for its standards in ground handling and also won an award as the Best Domestic Airline for passenger facilitation at the Nigerian Aviation Awards 2018

Air Peace targets Dubai, London other international routes in 2019

Air Peace has unveiled its plan for the aviation sector in 2019, assuring air travellers of packages including exceptional long-haul flights to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Guangzhou-China, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg.

The Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, gave the assurance in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos.

Onyema urged staff of the airline to gear up to raise the bar of flight services to the travelling public in 2019.

The chairman commended the travelling public for preferring Air Peace and staying loyal to its brand in 2018.

He attributed the success of the airline in four years to the unflinching support its customers, pledging that the carrier would spare nothing in making their experience truly rewarding, exciting and safe.

“2018 was both challenging and exciting for us. It was the year we upped our record of firsts.

“In the year under review, we launched a number of domestic and regional routes under our no-city-left-behind project on the platform of our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.

“We also made history as the first domestic airline to acquire and register the Boeing 777 aircraft in Nigeria. We have so far acquired four Boeing 777s, with two already delivered.

“We also successfully renewed our International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) after a very rigorous process.

” We also diversified the aircraft in our fleet with the inclusion of six 50-seater Embraer 145 jets, which have so far helped our yuletide operations in no small way,”Onyema said.

According to him, the airline in September signed a deal with American plane maker, Boeing, for the delivery of 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, making Air Peace the first to achieve the feat on the West Coast of Africa.

“We are sincerely grateful to our loyal customers without whose support, preference for our brand and patronage we could not have made a success of the target we set for ourselves in 2018.

” It was quite a challenging year too, given the dire economic situation across the world, but our esteemed customers supported us through it all.

“In 2019, we are going to implement a series of bolder decisions aimed at giving the flying public a truly exciting experience.

” Already, we have begun the expansion of our flight operations to the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) in response to our customers’ wish for a better space to serve them.

“This becomes effective Jan. 2, 2019 with the operation of our Lagos-Akure, Lagos-Asaba, Lagos-Kaduna and Lagos-Port Harcourt NAF Base services from the facility.

” All flights under our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper will eventually be moved to MMA2,”he said.

Onyema said Air Peace was
also going to give the flying public a reliable, safe, affordable and comfortable alternative on some international routes, including Dubai, Sharjah, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai, London, Houston and Johannesburg.

” Our staff have been wonderful with their commitment and dedication to duty through the years, but 2019 is one year all hands must be on the deck.

“This is to enable us give our customers the best flight experience on the domestic, regional and international routes and make our dear country, Nigeria and West Africa truly proud in the global aviation industry,” he said.