Finally, as promised by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama during one of the media breafing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Air Peace airline last night evacuated Chinese nationals in Nigeria to China through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos at about 2205hrs. The airline carried out the evacuation with its Boeing 777-300 with registration 5N-BWI. The big bird airlifted 301 passengers on board and 24 crew members.
From Lagos, the plane heads to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which is China’s most populous, commercial city. The evacuation, which was arranged by the Chinese government took off about 10:00p.m. Nigerian time and arrived at about 1:15p.m. Nigerian time on Friday. Air Peace was also responsible for the evacuation of Israeli nationals living in Nigeria late March. We hear that the Nigerian airline, which is one of the fastest growing carriers in the country has also been contacted by other countries similar operations.
Mr. Stanley Olisa, the image maker of the airline confirmed the successful flight. He said, Air Peace on Thursday, May 28, 2020, operated its second flight to China as “we evacuated 301 Chinese nationals back to their country. The flight departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos at exactly 22:05hrs to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China. Countries have been contacting us to evacuate their citizens.”
Also speaking on the evacuation, the Regional Airport Manager, South West, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Victoria Shin-Aba said the flight: P47807 pushed back from the Echo terminal of MMIA at 21:40hrs with 325 souls onboard – 301 Chinese evacuees and 24 crew members. She explained that all relevant government agencies like FAAN, Nigeria Immigration Service, Port Health Services officials and others were fully on ground to success of the evacuation exercise.
Air Peace is slated to carry out more evacuation operations for other nationals living in Nigeria, as the airline and other domestic operators gear up to resume scheduled flight operations soon. There are indications that commercial flight operations would resume early June, as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has started auditing airlines in preparation for scheduled passenger service.
