Chinedu Eze
When Ibom Air started flight operations on June 7, 2019, no one could imagine that the first state owned commercial airline with its own Airline Operator Certificate (AOC) would in few years develop a regional hub and also extend connectivity beyond Nigeria.
But what made this possible is the commitment of the government of Akwa Ibom state. Akwa Ibom is one of the few states or possibly the only state, where the programme of a predecessor is continued by his successors with uncanny commitment.
Since the 4th Republic, which started in 1999, the first elected governor, Obong Victor Attah (whose name the airport bears), started implementing his vision of developing his state into an aviation centre. Many were surprised that year at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) training school, where the trainees from Akwa Ibom State were taking lessons. The state governor was building an airport and the state was training those who would manage the airport.
When Godswill Akpabio (now Senate President) succeeded him in 2007, some pundits predicted that he would abandon the aviation programme, which was capital intensive. Senator Akpabio defied the prediction and completed the airport project. He reached agreement with Arik Air to start scheduled flight service to the airport.
Then came Udom Gabriel Emmanuel who succeeded Akpabio in 2015. He established Ibom Air and went ahead to kick-start the building of another terminal, which is now the international terminal.
The current governor, Umo Bassey Eno continued with the aviation programme and had seen to the completion and operation of the new terminal. So, these four governors continued with a dream undeterred and today, Ibom Air has operational hub in Uyo. It has operated its first international flight from Uyo to Accra and it is looking forward to connecting to other international destinations.
When Udom Gabriel Emmanuel took over as governor, he started the building of aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the Uyo airport. His successor continued with the project and completed it. So, Ibom Air has an airport and also MRO facility, where its aircraft will undergo checks.
When it operated its inaugural flight from Uyo to Accra on June 28, 2026, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi, said: “We are delighted to have commenced international operations out of Uyo. More importantly, we successfully facilitated seamless transit for passengers between Abuja and Accra through Uyo. This is exactly what the new terminal represents: a world-class airport experience in a modern facility that gives passengers a sense of dignity and respect.
With this development, we believe the game has changed for air travel in Nigeria. We are deeply grateful to His Excellency, Governor Umo Eno, for his visionary leadership and unwavering support for the aviation ecosystem in Akwa Ibom State, which has made this level of service possible.”
He disclosed that Ibom Air would operate the Uyo–Accra route twice weekly, on Sundays and Thursdays, noting that the service will offer travellers from Abuja and neighbouring states convenient access to Accra via Uyo, providing a stress-free and world-class travel experience.
Uriesi explained that the Uyo-Accra operation was to experiment the hub because it already has a station in Accra. “We don’t have to open a new station and go through all the expenses of opening a new station, it’s very simple. So, we just add another flight into our Accra Postal Service Station,” the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ibom Air said.
Looking at the future and how Akwa Ibom is growing into a high-capacity airline, Uriesi said that airlines in Nigeria faced a lot of challenges. Before now, they faced difficulty in acquiring aircraft because if not for outright purchase, the airline would conduct the capital-intensive wet leasing because of the unofficial blacklisting of Nigeria by lessors.
Then the airlines faced other challenges key of which were high interest rate and high cost of aviation fuel, spiked by the Middle East crisis.
Uriesi said that there was hope on the horizon on affordable aircraft acquisition because of the job done by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who interfaced with the lessors and also executed some policies which rekindled better relationship between Nigerian carriers and lessors; especially the signing of Irrevocable De-registration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA), which allows a lessor to recover his aircraft from an airline if the later reneged from the terms of agreement.
So, Nigeria achieved a major milestone with the signing of IDERA, which unlocked access to international dry-lease aircraft market. Dry lease is long-term, less capital-intensive arrangement. IDERA officially removed the country from global aviation watch list.
“I must give credit to Festus Keyamo. He’s the one minister recently who has listened to the industry’s issues and tackled them with vigour. So, he has removed the impediments. We are now able to secure aircraft. The most expensive thing in an airline is the aircraft. We are now able to secure aircraft through international financiers and lessors at lower interest rates, which is what was killing us. If Ibom Air was not paying heavily for interest payments, we would be a highly profitable airline,” Uriesi said.
He further explained that the Ibom Air business remained solid with Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) at 35 per cent in 2025, noting that the Ibom Air achievement beats most of the international airlines.
However, Uriesi regretted that whatever financial gains that accrue to the airline is gulped by banks through high interest rate.
“So, all our hard work, our investment in the Airbus A220 with massive returns from the very efficient aircraft, goes to the banks. Therefore, if we can reduce that interest rate from high double-digit to low or middle single-digit interest rates, all that money will come to us. Because we make the money,” he said.
Uriesi also spoke about the high cost of aviation fuel, remarking that the unexpected spike in the cost of aviation fuel occasioned by the Middle East crisis, “turned the whole business model upside down. We had to recalibrate the business model.”
In order to keep the business going, Ibom Air had to borrow a lot of money. Cost of operation went haywire, “from less than N2 million for a flight to Abuja, you start paying almost N8 million for a flight to Abuja.”
He said the operation was taking all the money earned from ticket sales and yearned for more.
According to him, “And you cannot increase fares at the same 300 per cent increase. You can barely increase them by 20-25 per cent before the whole world was like, hey, they don’t kill us. It’s the wahala that we are facing. Let’s have cheaper financing for access to equipment, which is aircraft.”
On regional operations and beyond, Ibom Air has very solid plan. It will use the Obong Victor Attah International Airport to connect destinations in West and Central Africa and after developing strong goodwill on those routes, it will venture beyond to farther international destinations.
“The airport has tested the systems with the station we already have. And, you know, when we start to go to Central Africa and all the other places we want to go to, from around August, September towards the end of the year, people already know that you can easily turn around in this airport and go to Bahia. So, that’s the whole thing. That’s essentially why we started with Accra, we have a station there already,” he added.
Nigerian airlines have become ambitious, pushing their dreams further because for the first time in decades, the industry has witnessed a federal government that has spurred operators to turn their dreams into reality.