Anambra eyes airline venture

The Anambra State Government said it is considering floating an airline or partnering with other airlines to meet people’s demands with the aim of strategically keying into the national policy on transportation.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Patricia Igwebuike, disclosed this at the just-concluded 9th All Nigeria Airport Business Summit and Expo, held in Lagos, according to a statement from the state’s ministry of information, on Saturday.

The summit was themed, ‘Addressing airport viability as a key to successful aviation business ambition’.

According to Igwebuike, the Chinua Achebe International Cargo and Passenger Airport, situated at Umueri, which will be three years by December, has done over 5,700 flights and over 343,000 passengers.

She said, “To attract footprints into the airport, we are doing quite a lot, talking to investors. As we speak, we have more than 30 proposals for concession and management agreements. To attract airlines, we have seen that there’s a lot of demand from people flying from Anambra or people intending to fly to Anambra, and we are talking to other airlines like Ibom Air and others.

“The idea is that we are looking at the numbers (because our governor is a numbers man) to know whether we need as a state to float an airline or if we need to partner with an airline because the demand is high.”

The commissioner further explained that with the Onitsha River Seaport, the railway, which the state is finishing the feasibility study on, and the land transportation, Anambra is keying into the national policy on transportation and is not just doing her own thing.

She further said the essence of the Chinua Achebe Airport was on cargo and that the ideology of building an airport at Umueri started in 1979.

“There is work in progress at the airport, and we are beautifully situated in Anambra, which is the gateway to the South-East. Everywhere in Anambra State is a commercial site. Some states are one-city states, but in Anambra, every city town is viable and that viability is what necessitated the building of the airport. It is not just something that came out of the blues.

“As far back as 1979, the idea of having an airport in that region was muted by the then governor, Jim Nwobodo. If you check the Anambra State House of Assembly of that era, it was mentioned that Umueri, then Umuleri, was the best-suited place for having an airport, and the ideology continued to the Peter Obi era with Orient Petroleum.

“It was former Governor Willie Obiano who started implementing the idea because the land, although acquired, was not paid for in terms of compensation. It was Obiano who paid the compensation and implemented the construction of the airport, which is mainly for cargo and passengers.

“The cargo aspect of it is because we are a commercial state; we build, we sell. All the statistics will tell you that a great percentage of the imports in the Southern part of Nigeria, more than 50 per cent, return to Anambra State. So that’s the concept behind the airport. The future is bright for the airport and the state,” she added.