Air Peace fleet expansion drive push stakeholders’ status for national carrier
Nigeria’s innovative airline, Air Peace has joined other leading carriers across the globe to seal fleet expansion deals at the ongoing Dubai Airshow.
The indigenous carrier and Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer, on Sunday signed a contract for three additional E195-E2 confirming purchase rights from the original contract, signed in April this year.
By virtue of the latest deal with the Brazilian manufacturer, Air Peace has made a total firm order of 13 E195-E2s with 17 purchase rights for the same model, whose delivery would begin in May 2020.
Accordingly, the new E195-E2s with a value of $212.6m, based on Embraer’s current list prices, would be included in Embraer’s 2019 fourth-quarter backlog.
Delivery specifications made available to Business Hilights on Monday revealed that the new aircraft would have dual configurations with 12-seater business class and 102-seater economy class.
Air Peace also noted that “The aircraft also comes in single configuration of all economy class of 144 seats.”
Chief of Finance and Administration at Air Peace, Mrs Ejiroghene Eghagha, who signed the new deal on behalf of the airline, said the E195-E2 was the perfect aircraft to expand the carrier’s domestic and regional operations.
She said, “The new deliveries will ease our subsidiary fleet in the Air Peace Hopper to actualise our ‘no-city-left-behind initiative which we shall continue to execute.
“We are receiving impressive data about the aircraft’s economics when in revenue service, and this was a driver to place this new firm order with Embraer. We look forward to receiving our first aircraft, which will enhance connectivity in Nigeria and the African region.”
It was further gathered that the new order would gradually replace the airline’s existing fleet, which would make it the airline with the youngest fleet in the world.
Recall that earlier last month; Air Peace championed the free airlift of stranded Nigerians in the wake of xenophobic violence and killings in South Africa.
