Air Peace commenced flights to Niamey on Friday, marking the airline's latest destination in the continent. The carrier will fly three times weekly between Kano to the capital of Niger using an Embraer ERJ-145 belonging to the regional subsidiary Air Peace Hopper.

Initial takeoff

Air Peace Hopper has officially landed in Niamey (NIM), flying its inaugural service on 11th March. The airline plans to fly its 50-seat ERJ-145s thrice a week between Kano (KAN) and NIM, with options to connect from Abuja first as well.

Services will operate on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, with the outbound flight leaving KAN at 13:40 and arriving at 15:10 local times. The return flight leaves NIM just 40 minutes later at 15:50 and arrives at 17:20. Passengers can also book a one-stop connection from Abuja, which leaves at 12:00 to reach Kano first and arrives back from Niamey at 19:00 local times.

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Photo: Embraer

Long time coming

Speaking to Daily Trust, Captain Augustin Kamano, Director of Flight Operations for Air Peace, said Niamey had long been on the airline's radar. The carrier has been expanding to cities within West Africa, and strong ties between Nigeria and neighboring Niger mean new air routes will only further traffic. The addition of Niamey makes Air Peace only more dominant in the region as it looks to fly globally and at home.

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As of today, the airline now flies to 20 domestic routes, seven regional routes, and two international services, namely Johannesburg and Dubai (previously Sharjah). This is backed by a fleet of 35 planes, which vary in shapes and sizes, ranging from the Dornier Do-328 to the newest E195-E2s to the leased 777s for long-haul flights.

Air Peace uses a diverse fleet to serve its destinations in Africa, and soon, across the globe. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons

In a statement, Kamano said,

"We are determined to reduce the air travel burden of Africans, and this will continue to propel our route expansion as well as fleet modernisation programme. Air Peace has accomplished so much in just seven years of operation, as we now have a network of twenty domestic routes, seven regional routes and two international destinations, including Johannesburg, which we launched in December 2020. Also planned for launch in the future are international routes, such as Houston-USA, Mumbai-India, Guangzhou-China and London. We’re constantly reviewing our route network in line with the travel needs of Africans”.

International prospects

Since early 2020, Air Peace has had its eye on expanding into long-haul markets across Europe and Asia. The airline's three 777s are currently only serving Sharjah for long-haul flights and it is now eager to kick off flights to other cities as well. Mumbai could be on the radar first as India opens up to all international traffic, while Guangzhou will take longer given China's zero COVID policies. For now, Air Peace is showing no signs of slowing its expansion and keep following Simple Flying for the latest.

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