Yemisi Izuora
The Management of Ibom Airline, owned by Akwa Ibom State government has vowed to sustain operations of the Airline.
Group Manager, Marketing and Communications of the Airline, Mrs. Aniekan Essienette who spoke while addressing newsmen in Uyo, reiterated that Ibom Air exists to be the economic driver for the State.
She said, “Let me affirm to you all that the reason Ibom Air exists is first as a key vehicle for the economic development and growth of Akwa Ibom State. So I want to use this opportunity to dispel the fears around Ibom Air’s sustainability, especially being a state owned Airline.
“I will call your attention to the fact that many successful Airlines globally are state owned. Ethiopian Airlines has been in existence for almost a century, with 64 straight years of profitability as a state-owned Airline and a major foreign exchange earner for Ethiopia. As you know without Emirates Airlines, there can hardly be Dubai today and of course this is solely owned by the Emirate of Dubai. At Ibom Air, we prefer to align ourselves with these internationally acknowledged success models that have stood the test of time” Essienette, stressed that the aim of the management was to grow Ibom Air to such similar global acclaim.
She expressed the believe that they could achieve that with the continued support of all stakeholders especially the media and people of Akwa Ibom state. “We are also constantly looking for innovative ways to serve and retain our customers. To this end, we have recently introduced our In-flight magazine, the Fulcrum, for our passengers’ reading pleasure onboard. We have more initiatives in the works for the near future. My presence here today is to assure you all, that Ibom Air is positioned for growth and therefore we are enhancing our visibility, nationally and regionally.
And we have a very formidable maintenance team in the employs of Ibom Air. So far we have not had any need to go anywhere for maintenance, all our maintenance is done in-house. And we don’t see any need to go for one soon because the Air Aircrafts we have are modern generation Aircrafts” She noted.