The founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Airline, Air Peace, Allen
Onyema, has announced that there will be direct commercial flights between
Antigua and Barbuda and Nigeria before the end of the year.
Speaking at a reception on Monday night, to welcome a delegation of business and
government officials to the country, Onyema said the VC Bird International
Airport VCBIA will be the hub as Air Peace seeks to expand into the Caribbean
with a once-weekly flight, initially.
“Antigua and Barbuda will be the hub for the entire Caribbean. This country
occupies a central position in the community of CARICOM nations and your
geographical location is also very good with a very good and accommodating
airport. We are going to bring people from the ‘Motherland’- Africa, to the
Caribbean. Air Peace will be acquiring 70 percent of LIAT 2020,” he revealed.
He explained that Antigua and Barbuda will serve as headquarters of the new
LIAT 2020, while Air Peace will fly people from Western Africa to VCBIA, from
where LIAT will then fly them to other destinations in the region.
Onyema said, already the announcement of regular connections between Africa
and the Caribbean has been generating much interest on both sides of the Atlantic,
as many Caribbean people have long expressed a desire to travel to Africa but have
found the journey to be a daunting task, as well as from people in Africa with a
similar desire to visit the region. He is also promising an initial 40 percent
reduction in the tickets to travel.
“People now know there is a bridge coming to close the gap between Africa and
the Caribbean. We’re going to take people from West and Central Africa; fly them
to Nigeria from where they will be flown directly to the VCBIA and use it as a hub
to distribute to other places,” he further explained. Antigua would also serve as the
meeting point for the return flight to Africa.
Onyema also announced that when the new LIAT 2020 is fully established, later in
the year, there will be plans to fly into other destinations such as the United States
and Canada.
Meanwhile, the Director of Economics, Trade and Investment in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Akinremi Bolaji, said the Nigerian government has
approved the application for Air Peace to operate on the Nigeria/Antigua and
Barbuda route.
