The Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, on Friday called on Nigerians to be more patriotic and promote indigenous airlines operating in the country.
Onyema made the call at an interactive session with the media in Lagos, saying that the move would further enable them to compete favourably with the foreign airlines.
He said many airlines were going into extinction, adding that there was an urgent need to project Nigeria in a positive manner.
According to him, this will further promote indigenous investment in the industry and the country as a whole.
The Air Peace chairman said that the interaction was to also encourage the media to do more in promoting indigenous investment.
He said any enterprise that created employment should be commended and encouraged to do more to make the industry grow progressively.
Onyema called on Nigerians to promote indigenous airlines and avoid the attitude of “Pull Him Down syndrome”.
“We should all rally around our own and promote Nigerian investment, because it will go a long way in projecting the country.
“We should be mindful of pulling someone down because if you pull anybody down, it will have great effect on those Nigerians that are working in such companies.
“The media should also support in promoting the aviation’s investment to boost our economy.
“If you pull any airline down, you have only succeeded in destroying the livelihood of the airline’s employees.
“You would have succeeded in pulling down those that were dependent on these employees in the industry,” he said.
Onyema said that Air Peace has over 3, 200 workers and believed that the airline had impacted positively on the nation’s economy growth.
“I am grateful to the media for your support, but there is need to do more in promoting the country to attract more investment.
“You should help to sustain what the indigenous airlines are doing in Nigeria. Aero Contractor are doing well on airline maintenance which should be encouraged.
“If Aero is well equipped, it will go a long way to boost the aviation sector by providing jobs to Nigerians,’’ he said.
Onyema also commended the aviation correspondents for going against multiple destinations for foreign airlines operating in the country.
He said the Minister of Aviation, Capt. Hadi Sirika, was now working on it to ensure that indigenous airlines were protected in the country.
Onyema said the Air Peace flight to Dubai, which started in 2019, recorded tremendous patronage, adding that its flight to Dubai had been the cheapest with N180, 000 on economy.
The Air Peace chief said that the company was also working well to ensure that its flights to London, Mubai in Indian and others were ready for operation this year. (
