Enthusiastic passengers, aviators and aviation agency officials at the weekend celebrated Air Peace’s first all-female crew comprising Capt. Sinmisola Ajibola, Senior First Officer Quincy Owen, SEP Instructor Rosemary Uagbor, Cabin Executive Chidimma Chimezie and Cabin Executive Opakirite George at the Lagos, Abuja and Owerri airports.
The all-female flight, which took off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, was operated days after Air Peace produced its first female Captain, Sinmisola Ajibola.
The flights, the airline said, were in honour of Sinmisola, to promote gender equality in the nation’s aviation industry and project Nigerian women as capable of standing tall among both their male and female counterparts across the world.
The Boeing B777-300 aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at 3.29 p.m. to a spectacular water salute performed by men of the Fire Service Department of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and a rousing welcome by passengers, government officials, aviation regulators and other well-wishers.
From Abuja, the aircraft flew into the Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport, Owerri and touched down at 6.00 p.m., receiving another water salute and warm welcome from passengers, airport workers and well-wishers.
Other females involved in the operations were B1 Engineer, Justina Etim, who signed out the aircraft in Lagos and dispatchers Chisom Onyeakposi and Olubukola Olajiga. Ladi Amadu and Loretta Ekeh dispatched the flight in Abuja and Owerri respectively.
Speaking at a brief welcome ceremony for the flight crew in Abuja, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema said over 20 key positions in the airline, including those of the vice chairman, chief operating officer and chief of finance and administration, were occupied by women whom he said have demonstrated excellent capacity to deliver on their tasks.
The airline, he said, had employed about 2,000 workers since it commenced operations almost four years ago. About 1,500 of the employees, he confirmed, were women.
“Air Peace is an airline run by women. We are very proud of giving women opportunities to excel because we believe that there is nothing that men can do that women cannot do. We want to encourage our female children that they should aspire to be whatever they want to be by emulating what our female flight and cabin crew members have done today,’’ Onyema said.
He commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its support for domestic airlines and hailed the President for the recent removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on transportation and waivers granted on importation of aircraft spares.
For his part, Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, praised Air Peace for joining the league of airlines that had operated flights with only women in charge of the cockpit, cabin, engineering and dispatch.
The minister, who was represented by the Director, Safety and Technical Policy, Ministry of Transportation, Capt. Talba Alkali, said the feat had shown the airline was gender friendly.
