THE Akwa Ibom state government has approved and disbursed palliatives to the owned airline, Ibom Air occasioned by a revenue loss in the region of N4bn by the airline having been grounded for over three months due to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Commissioner for Information, Sir Charles Udoh, who made this known recently stated that providing financial assistance to the airline became necessary given that airline operations in Nigeria and globally have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in many airlines; globally, requiring a financial life-line to get back to business.
According to him, the palliative is to enable the airline make necessary preparations for the resumption of fight operations as soon as the Nigerian airspace is open for flight operations.
Udoh added that American Airline secured $5.8 billion support, Delta Airline $5.4 billion and Air France-KLM $12billion from their respective governments.
Recall that Ibom Air in a little over one year of operations has raised the bar in aviation travel experience in Nigeria with its one time; every time departure protocol. Ibom Air continues to operate the lowest average fleet age amongst Nigeria’s airlines, a fleet strategy which is in line with the company’s vision to be a world-class African regional airline.
He stated,â€A key benefit of Ibom Air’s very modern fleet of Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft is that they all come fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. HEPA filters are high-intensity filters that do not just filter dust, but effectively capture greater than 99% of the airborne microbes in the filtered air, including microscopic particles such as bacteria and viruses.
“Cabin air in HEPA equipped aircraft generally pass through the filters 20-30 times per hour, removing contaminants and greatly enhancing the quality of air in the cabin.
“Therefore, when the suspension on domestic flight is lifted, Ibom Air will offer one of the safest, if not safest domestic travel option during COVID19 pandemic in addition to other personal and respiratory hygiene guidelines already prescribed globally.
