|
Listen to article
|
United Nigeria Airline on Thursday commenced regular scheduled flight operations to the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport (SMICA).
The inaugural Owerri flight landed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MM2) Ikeja, Lagos state at 7.00 am before departing for SMICA. It departed SMICA for MM2 at 11:30 am.
Again the airline departed SMICA at 8:30 am for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and returned to SMICA at 10:00 am. Accoding to the management of this airline, this would now remain a regular schedule for United Nigeria Airlines on the Owerri route.
United Airlines had in February this year commenced operations and during its inaugural flight, its Chairman, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, said the short-term goal was to consolidate, establish all its routes and then work on the expansion. He also said the airline wants to expand beyond Nigeria, starting from the West Coast.
‘We can see that there is a gap in this industry and we have not made any mistake to make Enugu aviation hub. The state government will give us encouragement and we are driven by service to humanity. Our short term is to consolidate, establish all our routes and then work about expanding. We want to expand beyond Nigeria, starting from the West Coast.
‘The market is huge and there is a need for a lot of aircraft. It might surprise you to know that had a full load in all the routes we operated on the day of our inaugural flight. We are prepared for the competition. Those who are in the business should be worried about it because we are new. We think that within the next three months we shall be able to expand our routes,’ Okonkwo said.
THE EASTERN UPDATES
