Yemisi Izuora
Air Peace recorded history when it decorated one of its young First Officers – Ademulegun Adebayo Jonathan as Captain In Command of Boeing 737 aircraft.
The young pilot is type rated on Boeing737 aircraft ranging from 300 series to 900.
The decoration of the Pilot took place at the headquarters of the Air Peace in Ikeja, Lagos.
Captain Jonathan took command as pilot on one of Air Peace’s Boeing 737-500 aircraft that operated recently.
The decoration of the new captain was carried out by the chairman of the airline; Mr Allen Onyema and the chief operating officer of the airline, Engineer Toyin Olajide. The pilot was decorated with four bars epaulets.
Speaking at the event Onyema said the decoration is demonstration by Air Peace that it is ready to create room for the growth of young pilots to explore opportunities where competence and excellence are the guiding criteria.
He said Captain Jonathan in the few months he has flown for Air Peace has demonstrated capacity as a young professional the airline is committed to groom for the development of the aviation sector.
Onyema said very soon other First Officers that qualify would be decorated as Captains in command as evidence that Air Peace is committed to the development of professional capacity for young professionals.
He urged the young captain to continue to exhibit those attributes that set him out , even as he urged other pilots to consider Air Peace as an airline that is committed to the development its personnel.
He said he would create opportunity for professionals to grow and contribute their best to the airline irrespective of their ethnic extraction , which is not a factor in recruitment into Air Peace.
Onyema said the airline has recorded many achievements in the few months it started flight operations in the changing aviation landscape.
Onyema said :” In Air Peace, our goal is to reward excellence and contribute our quota to the development of domestic air travel in Nigeria.
We have won many awards since we started changing the face of aviation in Nigeria.
The decoration today of one of our First Officers : Ademulegun Adebayo Jonathan as Captain in command of our flight is enough proof that we reward diligence, excellence and hard work.
In the last few months, this pilot has shown that hard work pays , the reason he is being elevated as first officer into a Captain in command .
This will not be the last , very soon other first officers will be elevated and decorated as captains .
This is the minimum we can do to reward committed young professionals .
This is good news for us as an airline , because Air Peace has the most experienced pilots in Nigeria. Other pilots are leaving other airlines to join us because we are committed to their welfare.
“I am very proud of our pilots . I want them to make the difference . We owe this achievement to God , and we are committed to run an airline patterned after the South West Airlines of the United States . We look forward to the day when our staff will share from the profit of this airline as their airline.” He said
He also added that “I want them to set the pace for others to follow .we will continue to motivate our staff , by investing in our crew as the most important human resource , who are very experienced . We remain committed to the training of our pilots, this explains why our employment is anchored on merit .”
The decoration of the pilots was witnessed by his patents , wife and other staff of the airline including Captain Wale Oke and the pilot in charge of training Captain Victor .