The Chief Executive Officer and founder of Malaika Air, a new regional airline based in Accra, Ghana, Prince Richard Nwaobi has disclosed the plan of the airline to begin flight operations in November by connecting West Africa with the Caribbeans.
Prince Nwaobi disclosed that the airline will be coordinating its operations from Accra to Lagos and Abuja.
Speaking at the recently concluded Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, Malaika Air boss said the carrier is also working out a deal with a Nigerian Eastern regional airport that is not certified yet.
Prince Nwobi explained that the motivation to operate into the Nigerian market is based on the country’s size, viable market as Nigerians love to travel.
According to him: “Nigerians are commercially minded. That is also why we want to go to the East where a lot of commerce operates. In spite of the economic downturn, you still have more disposable income in Nigeria than anywhere else. And the interest in adventure is crucial. So it is a combination of tourism as well as trade facilitation, which statistics in the Caribbean countries show about Nigeria”.
He disclosed further that the interest in flying to the Carribean is based on the fact that in Bahamas, Nigerians are the third largest applicants for nomadic visas.
In his words, “I think you have people like the former owner of Flutterwave living there and others. In Bahamas, they just had the Afreximbank event in June. 27 private jets out of 37 that arrived came from Nigeria. You had the who-is- who in attendance. In fact, for the 10 days, the Bahamian economy was overwhelmed by the presence mostly of Nigerians.
They could have actually benefited more if they took cash, but they operate a cashless society. So Bahamas now recognized that and say wow, why are we pondering to anybody else? All we need is look to Africa, especially Nigeria. So the statistics are there”.
Nwobi stated further that Malaika Air is also partnering to bring in the state governments and the Nigerian tourism ministry.
He said Malaika Air has been nominated as the official carriers in conjunction with Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Ekiti State and Ondo State for the Ipada Festival and Ipada Carnival.
Malaika Airline boss added that the airline is still working on permits to do non-stops from Lagos including working local carriers in Nigeria.
According to him “We don’t want to come in with that imperial mentality. So it will be easier to partner with maybe Ibom Air. We will also fly twice daily to Lagos, daily to Abuja.
And then once we get an Eastern airport partner, we are interested in Asaba or Enugu. So, that we can cover the three sides of Nigeria, East, West. And start with that. Then eventually get permits to be able to fly from Lagos non-stop to those locations as well”.
He said Malaika Air is in talks with Ibom Air, adding that they will fly their own jets to Lagos.
Nwobi said the Airline is not here to dominate, but to build a hub, encourage Ibom Air or whoever else to help work with them and bring passengers to their gateway.
In terms of fleet size, fleet type and route coverage, Malaika Air boss explained that for their domestic and near-regional, they are going to operate with the latest Q400 NG in three classes, business, premium economy and economy.
While for the international fleet, Nwobi said the airline will operate it with the Airbus A330s, adding that at the full scale, they are going to have four of those Q400 and six Airbus A330s.
He stated that the airline is starting operations with about two aircraft for now.
On why he choose to operate from Ghana, Nwobi explained that: “We are a Pan-African operator. And I think, really, if you listen to the Akwaaba organizer, it is Nigerian brand, but Akwaaba means welcome in Ghana.
I think we need to divorce ourselves from, I am a Nigerian, I am an Igbo and others. For Africa to get ahead, we need to harness our collective strengths. I am a Nigerian, I speak Igbo, Yoruba, I speak Swahili. I am also supporting Rwanda, I speak Kenya, Rwanda. Ultimately, the number one language in Africa is Swahili.
The African Union has adopted it. So if you say, I am Nigerian, I don’t want to.
We are talking about 1.5 billion people.
Nigeria might be 20%, but you still have 80%. In any business, you don’t want to leave out 80%, to only invest in 20%. So the Pan-African mindset, 1.5, then about 60 million in the Caribbean.
Brazil, Colombia combined, you are going to have probably 450 million. So it is going to be Africa, Caribbean, Latin America. Of course, the diaspora are also involved.
So for us, it was just, I guess, the first start, you start small. You don’t dive into an ocean to learn how to swim. You do it from a swimming pool.
But let’s also recognize that the image is Pan-African. Not just, I am Nigerian, I am this. So that is the reason we decided to take bold steps from there, and then come in from there”.
