As the resumption of domestic flight operations draws near, Nigeria’s leading airline, Air Peace, on Wednesday, had its 25 aircraft in shakedown flights.
The aircraft flew to Abuja, Port Harcourt and back to Lagos without passengers.
According to the airline, the flights were aimed at ensuring that the aircraft are in tip-top condition, having been grounded for close to three months.
Stanley Olisa, Air Peace spokesperson, told journalists in Lagos on Thursday that the shakedown flights were part of the measures the airline had developed to guarantee the safety of both passengers and crew when operations resume.
He noted that the aircraft were in storage mode for a couple of months and extensive maintenance checks had been carried out to keep them up to the required standards.
“Within this period of flight ban, we have ramped up technical maintenance of all our aircraft, scaled up cabin refresh and carried out thorough disinfection to ensure they remain fit for the skies when the authorities flag off operations,” he said.
On the airline’s readiness to resume regular flights, he stated, “As you know, we have been operating ‘special flights’ to local and international destinations, and we have more of such flights in the works. This accentuates our preparedness for operation restart as our pilots, cabin crew and engineers have been hands-on and are very current. So, we are hundred percent ready to resume.”
Air Peace has been operating charter and evacuation flights to various international destinations.
In April, the airline delivered the Nigerian government’s medical supplies from Turkey and China to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also operated evacuation flights to India, Israel and China in the last two months.
