… and will offer cheaper fares to Nigerian students encourage them to come home often

By Milton Tella – Air Peace, the largest airline in Nigeria, has commenced operations to London Gatwick in the United Kingdom. 

The Nigerian carrier launched Lagos-Gatwick route using its Boeing 777 aircraft, with plans to later deploy Norse’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner under an ACMI arrangement.

After extensive planning and earning its Foreign Carrier Operator Permit (FCOP) from the UK‘s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Air Peace has finally marked the beginning of operations at LGW Airport.

On March 30, 2024, an Air Peace Boeing 777-200ER widebody, registered as 5N-BVE, departed from Lagos Murtala Mohammed Airport  bound for London Gatwick Airport in the UK.

Prior to the Lagos for London flight, Air Peace chief executive officer Dr Allen Onyema, said: “As we prepare to commence direct connectivity to London on March 30, 2024, we had an engagement session with our travel agents and tour brokers today to discuss the route and update them on key developments.”

Air Peace will give Nigerians more choice for traveling back to Nigeria from London. Virgin Airlines flights into London and British Airways to Abuja have been the only two options for travellers seeking direct flights between the two destinations. For a long time, Nigerian travellers felt aggrieved about the two major British

dominating the Nigerian market, claiming their monopoly has enabled them charge astronomical fairs for routes between the two countries. 

Air Peace is already offering cheaper and less expensive prices than the two major British carriers and aims to go even further in cutting the cost of travel. 

Mr Onyema is also offering Nigerian students in the UK special discounts when returning home to Nigeria. He hopes that offering them lower fares will encourage Nigerians abroad to return home after completing their studies. 

Speaking on Arise TV News, Dr Onyema said: “I have been disturbed massively about the brain drain out of this country. We are losing our youthful ones to the outside world.”

Dr Onyema outlined how many Nigerian parents, who are not in all cases wealthy, spend up 25 to 30 million naira to raise each child, who are then lost to foreign country.

He said most Nigerian parents are not rich but often they are sell their properties and land to send their children abroad to study.

He said: “So many don’t have he funds to be coming home for holidays and have to remain there abroad for four or five years without ever coming home once.

“This is a problem for Nigeria because many [young people] lose touch with their homeland. And we lose them forever.”

He said that the discounts and cheaper rates for Nigerian students returning home and other measures will encourage them to come home regularly.

 According to Flightradar24, the flight duration between these two destinations is approximately six hours. The airline intends to deploy its fleet of Boeing 777 widebody aircraft to operate this route. With three Boeing 777 widebodies in its fleet, the airline offers accommodation for a total of 274 passengers across a three-class cabin configuration, according to ch-aviation data.