Cross River State Government says it has acquired two new CRJ 1000 jets to increase its fleet of Cally Air fleet to four. The state government says it is going into an agreement with the state to increase the fleet to seven. The new aircraft will be operated by Aero Contractors, who operate the first two of the aircraft.

The Cross River State Government says it has acquired two new CRJ 1000 jets to increase the Cally Air fleet to four.

Cally Air is owned by the Cross River State Government. Aero Contractors operates the first two aircraft on behalf of Cally Air. An official of the Cross River State Government told PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday that the state government is going into an agreement with ValueJet for it to operate the two new aircraft.

Vice President Kassim Shettima inaugurated the latest aircraft on Tuesday at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.

Speaking at the inauguration, Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River said that the state government plans to increase Cally Air’s fleet to seven.

“We already have two aircraft that are flying, we are adding another two today, and very soon, we shall add another three to make it seven,” he said.

Mr Otu said that his administration was strongly building on three areas of development, which his predecessors had initiated.

He stated his predecessors initiated projects in tourism, rural development and industrialisation.

“I came into government to meet three engines that were started by my predecessors. The first engine is tourism, which was begun by Donald Duke.

“I also saw rural development, which was anchored by Liyel Imoke, and I saw industrialisation, which was started by Prof. Ben Ayade.

“The plans of these leaders were to move the state away from dependency on the centre.

“When I came into office, I saw the reason to integrate these three engines to create a robust economy that can take the state to another level

“Today, we are building on the aviation sector, which is very key to our tourism development target,” he said.

The governor stated that the Cross River Government was keying into President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as a way of promoting economic growth and citizens’ wellbeing.

In the neighbouring Akwa Ibom State, Ibom Air, owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, has been a great success in Nigeria’s aviation industry since it was established in 2019, but the airline has been enmeshed in a controversy recently over its poor handling of a clash between its crew members and a passenger inside an aircraft.

Nigeria has failed to establish a national carrier since Nigeria Airways ceased operations in 2003.

(NAN)