Yemisi Izuora
The Akwa Ibom State Government commercial airline, Ibom Air, has added another aircraft to its fleet.
The new aircraft, a bombardier CRJ 900, arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, from Calgary, Canada, at 10:48 p.m. on Tuesday, the airline management said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement which is posted on Ibom Air Facebook page explained that the latest addition brings the number of aircraft in Ibom Air fleet to four.
The statement said:“This particular aircraft, with registration number 5N-BXP, made its maiden commercial flight in May 2014 (just 6 years ago).”
“Thus, Ibom Air continues to operate the lowest average fleet age amongst Nigeria’s airlines. This fleet strategy is in line with our vision to be a world-class African regional airline.”
The statement added, “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 per cent 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.”
Ibom Air, which launched its maiden flight in June 2019, has been flying Uyo-Abuja and Uyo-Lagos routes. It later expanded into the Abuja-Lagos route before airports and airlines in Nigeria temporarily shut down because of the novel coronavirus.