Chinedu Eze
Nigeria’s leading carrier, Air Peace has started the actualisation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative from Nigeria, connecting business people, investors and tourists to 13 capital cities in West and Central Africa.
AfCFTA is projected to provide a massive free trade zone that connects 54 countries, 1.3 billion people and promote $1.4 trillion economy.
Nigeria is at the centre of it all, one of the leading economies in Africa with the highest indigenous travellers on the continent.
From its operations hub in Lagos, Nigeria, Air Peace connects travellers to Accra, Ghana, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Bamako, Mali, Banjul, The Gambia, Conakry, Guinea, Cotonou, Benin, Dakar, Senegal, Doula, Cameroon, Freetown, Sierra Leone Libreville, Gabon, Monrovia, Liberia, Niamey, Niger, Lome, and Togo.
In connecting the cities across the continent, Air Peace may be contributing significantly in breaking a long-held jinx that Africans do not trade among themselves through intra-African business.
In fact, Africa is said to have the lowest level of intra-continental trade of any major region, with trade between African nations hovering around 15 per cent to 16 per cent of its total trade. This compares to roughly 68 per cent in Europe and 59 pr cent in Asia, largely due to historical trade routes, infrastructure gaps, and heavy border red tape.
By opening these destinations, the largest West African carrier is also removing one of the major hindrances to trade, poor connectivity.
One of the major reasons why the Yamoussoukro Decision was not actualised was poor connectivity. Before the Single African air Transport (SAATM) initiative by the African Union, poor connectivity in Africa was said to be marked by indirect routing, high ticket costs, and restrictive visa policies. These factors severely affected intra- continental trade, as only about 19 per cent of intra-African routes have direct flights, forcing business travellers to route through Europe or the Middle East, which restricts overall trade to a low 16 per cent of the continent’s total commerce.
But Air Peace is peeling away the hindrance of connectivity by connecting West and Central Africa. It is also connecting Africa to the world with Lagos, Abuja to London flights, the flights to Antigua and Barbados. And soon it will connect Nigeria to Brazil.
Last Weekend, Air Peace advanced its vision of connecting more African cities by officially commencing flight operations on the Lagos–Conakry–Bamako route on Saturday, August 1, 2026, with the inaugural flight departing the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal 2, Lagos
The airline, in a statement, said: “The new route marks another significant milestone in the airline’s strategic regional expansion drive, connecting Nigeria’s commercial capital with the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Mali, while opening up greater opportunities for business, tourism, trade, cultural exchange and people-to-people connections across the sub-region.”
In Guinea, the Minister of Transport, His Excellency Ousmane Gaoul Diallo, welcomed Air Peace’s entry into the Guinean market, describing the new connection as an important development that would strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and Guinea while facilitating greater movement of people, trade and economic opportunities between both countries.
Speaking on behalf of Air Peace, the Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Nowel Ngala, described the inaugural flight as a significant milestone in the airline’s regional connectivity journey. He noted that the new Conakry and Bamako connections were part of Air Peace’s broader commitment to building a robust African network that enables travellers from across the airline’s domestic destinations to seamlessly connect through Lagos to regional and international destinations, including London and the Caribbean.
Ngala reaffirmed that Air Peace remained committed to leveraging its growing network to bring African cities closer together, while providing passengers with greater connectivity, convenience and access to new opportunities across the continent and beyond.
In Mali, members of the Nigerian community expressed their appreciation for the new route, noting that the direct connection would provide greater convenience for Nigerians travelling between both countries while further strengthening the bonds between the Nigerian and Malian communities.
“The launch of the Lagos–Conakry–Bamako route reinforces Air Peace’s position as a key player in the advancement of intra-African connectivity and reflects the airline’s unwavering commitment to its mission of bridging cities, connecting people and driving economic opportunities through air travel.
“With the commencement of operations to Conakry and Bamako, Air Peace now serves 13 regional destinations across West, Central Africa, marking a remarkable expansion achieved within just 11 years of commencing commercial operations. The milestone further underscores the airline’s antecedent of pioneering new routes, expanding Nigeria’s aviation footprint and positioning Lagos as a strategic gateway for seamless connectivity across Africa and the world,” the airline further said.
Reacting to how Air Peace, a Nigerian carrier is rebuilding the West and Central market and connecting people in the region from its Nigerian hub, Industry Analyst and Managing Director of Flight and Logistic Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, said the thinking of business pundits had always been for Nigerian businesses including aviation to consider West Africa as one target market on their planning document. He said government policy makers and business planners should collaborate to make it a single market territory – one regional bloc.
He explained that in this sense, flying between Lagos and Kano, should be treated as flying between Lagos and Abidjan, remarking that the fares, the navigation fees, the handling charges, the payment modes should be unified and the regulatory and safety oversight should be harmonised.
“The earlier operators that attempted to fly this region faced national identity barriers from governments of the region. Protectionism was the barrier code. First, national airlines like Nigeria Airways, Ghana Airways, Air Afrique, dominated the region. Following that was the era of the surge of private operators like Okada, Kabo, ADC and Bellview airlines. ADC operated daily flights but had to circumvent national protection barriers by registering as local airlines in two countries within the West African region – Liberia and Sierra Leone,” Akpan said.
Explaining how ECOWAS tried to break the barriers with the Yamoussoukro accord, Akpan said: “The protocols in that accord are still not fully complied with. We now have the Banjul accord. The barriers still exist and the fragmented charges for handling flights that constitute costs differ amongst the countries in West Africa.”
Akpan noted that the rates of navigation fees paid for a flight differs from Abuja to Accra, to Abidjan, to Monrovia, to Banjul, to Dakar, adding that this is not in the spirit Single Air Transport African Market (SAATM), which African Union is promoting.
With the high charges and immigration barriers, Akpan said scheduled or chartered commercial flights within West Africa, was no longer profitable for the operators because of high charges and barriers by the different countries in the region and advocated that these charges should be reviewed downwards.
“However, Nigerian operators should dominate flights within the West African region because they have the capacity,” he added.
These recognised barriers and high fares are what the African Union and ECOWAS are fighting to eliminate or reduce to the lowest minimum. And this has given African operators like Air Peace hope to connect people across countries on the continent.