IBOM AIR: NIGERIA’S KING OF THE SKY – THE JOURNEY SO FAR

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Akwa Ibom State Government-owned airline, Ibom Air, takes delivery of a second brand new Airbus A220 aircraft and sets its footprint as Nigeria’s preferred airline, and Akwa Ibom, a destination of choice

Aniekan Umanah, Daniel Etokidem, and Ubon Marcus in this report, capture the times and essence of the 5 years old airline

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On Thursday, July 11, 2024, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, conducted a pre-delivery inspection of IbomAir’s new A220-300 series aircraft at the Samco Aviation Maintenance Facility in Maastricht, Netherlands, where he explained that the meticulous inspection was to ensure that the aircraft aligns with the airline’s rigorous safety and performance standards before joining the fleet. He also submitted that the new aircraft is set to elevate the travel experience for Ibom Air’s passengers and boost the airline’s service offerings.

The brand new A220-300 Airbus is famous for its revolutionary fuel efficiency, flight range of up to 3600 nm (6700 km), 38.71m (127 ft) long fuselage, with a seating capacity of 132 seats, i.e., 5-abreast passenger capacity seats (one row of seats from A, B, C and D), 12 premium economy seats, and 120 economy seats, with provisions for a normal socket and USB ports for charging, awesome aesthetics, good ambient lighting, environment-friendly with 25% lower carbon emissions, superior cabin features, low operating cost, cutting-edge technology, top-notch passenger comfort and safety features, and adaptability for short and medium-haul commercial operations.

The engines are powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G turbofan engines under its wings. The twinjet features fly-by-wire flight controls, a carbon composite wing, an aluminum-lithium fuselage, and optimized aerodynamics for better fuel efficiency. It is eco-friendly; it produces less engine sound with reduced carbon emissions.

While in Maastricht, Governor Eno also met with top Airbus executives, including Grainne van den Berg, Vice President, Marketing-Africa & Middle East, and Hadi Akoum, Vice President Sales-Africa, where issues on delivery timelines for the remaining aircraft ordered by IbomAir during the 2021 Dubai Airshow were discussed.

15 cadets from Akwa Ibom State at the Airbus Flight Academy in Angouleme had an August visitor in July as the Governor paid them an unscheduled visit. The cadets expressed their gratitude for the state’s investment in their future and assured the Governor of their commitment to returning to work for IbomAir after their training.

“I’m glad to see your dedication. Life is an endurance trek that you must face head-on. We are committed to ensuring you achieve the best and look forward to celebrating your success,” he assured the cadets.

From Maastricht, Netherlands, Ibom Air’s latest acquisition was flown into Lagos, Nigeria, and on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, the new bird landed in Uyo, her new land of birth, to join her six other siblings, thus becoming the seventh family heir that now has five Bombardier CRJ 900 and two A220-300 brand new Airbus.

Together, this family of Eagles will fly and conquer the skies of seven aviation territories, which are Uyo, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, and Accra in Ghana.

According to the airline CEO, Captain Mfon Udom, in yet another bold and ambitious expansion policy of Ibom Air, two new additional routes will commence before the last quarter of 2024, and the target is to have a total of 18 aircraft by 2026, comprising eleven (11) Airbus 220-300 and seven (7) Bombardier CRJ 900.

Within the Nigerian aviation industry, Ibom Air stands tall as a testimony of vision, resilience, creativity, and innovation. Recall that when former Governor Udom Emmanuel conceived the idea, it was widely scoffed at, with many lampooning it as the birth of another white elephant project, but June 7, 2019, witnessed the airline’s birth.

However, five years after Ibom Air began operations, facts on the ground have shown that Nigeria’s first ever sub-national government-owned airline is gradually proving skeptics wrong, thus showing how a business-centric government can successfully implement its economic diversification vision.

The Akwa Ibom aviation industry’s success story is a celebration of vision, passion for professionalism, and effective service delivery; it is a story of one of the gains of continuity in governance. Obong Victor Attah conceived the idea of building the airport and commenced its construction. Senator Godswill Akpabio, as Governor, completed it and landed the first ever aircraft in September 2009.

Immediate Past Governor, Udom Emmanuel, expanded the vision and vigorously pursued the completion of the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) concept, the building of a smart terminal, and further plunged into an aspect many thought was insane: the establishment of an indigenous airline. Ibom Air, the darling airline of the skies, was born—a business venture never ever contemplated by any subnational government in Africa.

With Ibom Air, the government’s dream of making Akwa Ibom the first Niger Delta oil-producing state to begin the practical process of diversifying its economy away from its over-dependence on oil and gas revenue has become practical.

Governor Umo Eno, with his finishers anointing, is set to get both the MRO and new terminal up and running and just recently announced plans to commence the construction of an aviation estate in close proximity to the airport where airport workers can live.

The economic impact of Ibom Air on the state and nation is huge. A recent International Air Transport Association (IATA) publication titled “The Importance of Air Transport to Nigeria” notes that the air transport sector impacts Nigeria’s economy in major ways, including the jobs and spending generated by airlines and their supply chain, the flows of trade, tourism, and investment resulting from users of all airlines serving the country, and the city-partner connections that make these flows possible.

Though heavily criticized at inception, Ibom Air’s successes owe much to the state’s long-term planning and leadership policy thrust of running government like a business—a paradigm shift that is paying off with the Ibom Air business model.

As a result, Akwa Ibom State, which ranks among Nigeria’s leading oil and gas-producing states where crude oil accounts for over 90 percent of its revenue, now has a government conscious of the global economy that is fast shifting its attention away from fossil fuels and embracing renewable energy.

In the next few decades, global oil demand will probably witness a significant decline due to the focus on renewable energy, making the need to diversify the economy to focus on other non-oil sectors for alternative income imperative. Here, Akwa Ibom State is taking the lead by showing the way.

In recent times, many air travelers in Nigeria argue that no other domestic airline can lay claim to better efficiency when it comes to reliability, dependability, customer relationship, airworthiness, quality personnel, professional etiquette, efficiency, prompt and timely response to customers’ complaints, on-time departure, and safety than Ibom Air.

Ibom Air is a limited liability company wholly owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, which aims to set the standard as an airline of choice for passengers by focusing on schedule reliability, on-time departures, and excellent service.

With a vision to make the Victor Attah International Airport compete as the best within the Gulf of Guinea, the Akwa Ibom State Government’s investments in the airport, such as the smartest 21st-century ICT-compliant International Terminal Building, the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility, two taxiways, game-changing airport automation technology including facial recognition gadgets, an automated vehicle counter that calculates the number of vehicles entering and leaving the airport, and cameras that read vehicle number plates and detect suspicious objects for analysis, are worth commending.

The advanced system at the Victor Attah International Airport is also designed to detect foot traffic and is equipped with a complete seeing observation system that makes the work of airport security easier, with visitors to the state and other users of the airport not having to look over their shoulder, solidifying Akwa Ibom’s position as one of Africa’s leading tourist sites.

Furthermore, the new terminal building is designed to offer travelers an automated self-check-in powered by roving robots, a smart lighting control system with automatic dimming functions, automated baggage screening and weighing units to complement the robot-assisted self-check-in system, an infrared toilet system, and so on.

Akwa Ibom, often described as “Nigeria’s best-kept secret,” will also have an international wing of the airport with a 3.6-kilometer runway and new aprons for all categories of aircraft. The MRO can take two Boeing 747 aircraft series, eight Airbus A220-300 series, and all five CRJs now in the Ibom Air fleet. The MRO project alone is yet another avenue through which the state will be earning revenue, especially in a sector where everything is dollarized.

The implication of this is that in the distant future, the state would not have to wait for its share of allocation from the federal government to be able to earn revenue to run its affairs. Already, the concept of Akwa Ibom looking beyond oil is becoming a reality.

The Ibom Air aviation business template, beyond serving as a reference to the government’s commitment to industrialization, is arguably a blueprint of vision executed to solve the myriads of customer-related problems palpable in the Nigerian aviation industry.

Professionalism, which has earned Ibom Air a sterling reputation in the country’s aviation landscape and its quality of service delivery, suggests a strong commitment to the core of business practice, which is customer satisfaction.

The airline’s management, marketing, and business models are suggestive of intentional, deliberate, and sound administrative advice. Additionally, through Ibom Air, Akwa Ibom is showing that it is possible not to mix politics and pleasure in government business.

Several industry watchers say the business-centric vision of Ibom Air makes it difficult for the political class or elites to hijack or abuse the brand for personal aggrandizement.

Patronage of the brand by the political class or elites is based on a fee for a service arrangement and not on political connections, favoritism, or cronyism. Ibom Air is thus a lesson to the government at the center, confederate units, and composite regions of the country that the government can invest in the aviation business and succeed.

This lesson to be learned from Ibom Air’s prowess is necessary, especially considering the demise of the national carrier, Nigeria Airways (1958–2003), as a result of mismanagement, corruption, and gross indebtedness.

As the Governor rightly noted, the Ibom Air model shows how government can support businesses to thrive, which is why the state’s premium hospital, the Ibom Specialist Hospital, is to be repositioned to emulate Ibom Air’s operational template for efficiency and effectiveness.

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