By Sumaila Ogbaje
The owners of Max Air Limited have concluded plans to venture into the Nigerian domestic air transport market in addition to its usual Hajj and Umrah operations.
Alhaji Bashir Mangal, Vice Chairman, Max Air, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Abuja, said the airline would commence full operation on July 2.
Mangal said the demo flight would be carried out on Wednesday afternoon to mark its readiness commence domestic operation.
He disclosed that Max Air would begin operation from Abuja, Lagos and Kano routes, while other routes like Sokoto, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Yola would follow subsequently.
“By the grace of God we are going to start our domestic operations in Nigeria soon and today, one of our aircraft is coming to Abuja for test flight.
“We plan to start our operation on Monday, July 2 with three destinations: Abuja, Lagos and Kano.
“Within one week, we are going to deploy the other aircraft to start doing Sokoto, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Yola and the rest will equally follow,” he said.
The vice chairman told NAN that the airline was ready to exploit the opportunities that abound in the nation’s aviation industry and contribute its quota to the development of the sector.
He said that Max Air got its Air Operation Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2017 and had been operating in Nigeria mainly in Hajj and Umrah operations since then.
According to him, the airline has in its fleet a number of Boeing 737-300, 737-400 and 737-500 as well as wide body B747-600 and 747-700 to operate with.
“We are not new in Nigerian aviation market, we have been here for about 15 years now and we got our Air Operation Certificate (AOC) since over 10 years ago doing Hajj and Umrah and worldwide charter.
“By the grace of God, we are going to do our best to contribute to the development of Nigerian aviation industry and we will try to cover all the destinations in Nigeria within the shortest possible time.
“Now, we have three aircraft on ground in Kano which is our operational base and we are going to commence operation with two while more would be deployed subsequently.
“We have in our fleet Boeing 737-300, 737-400 and 737-500. We also have Boeing 747-600 and we 747-700 which are the ones on ground in Kano at present.
“We are aware of the challenges in the industry and we are ready to face them.
“We have followed and fulfilled all the requirements and today, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority will finish its job before we carry out the demo,” he said.
