Commissioner For Aviation Tours Margaret Ekpo Airport, Assures Of Govt's Plans To Make Calabar Route Busy Again

The Cross River State Commissioner for Aviation, Capt Eno Inah Rtd  has reiterated the State Government's plan to revive the Calabar air route and revamp its activities as well as adequately address the challenges faced by airline operators and other service providers at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport.

Capt. Inah made this revelation when he paid an unscheduled visit to some airline operators at the Calabar Airport on a fact-finding mission, owing to several complaints by passengers and operators within the Calabar Route. 

According to the  Commissioner, "The State Governor, Sen. Bassey Otu is not snug with the several complaints about our Calabar Route, so he has directed that we come here to unravel the challenges you are facing and report same to him for positive actions.

"The issues of flight cancellations, long unavailability of seats from certain routes, high cost of aviation fuel, high flight fare  among others are all to be sorted out as soon as possible. 

"We want to get the Airport perfectky working again by ensuring that all challenges, from inability of planes to land at night due to poor visibility to wrong timing if aviation fuel are adequately fixed. This, we hope to do in collaboration with the Federal Government."

Receiving the Commissioner; the Representative of Ibom Air, Blessing Eddie expressed appreciation for the visit, saying the Pop In was a sign of a committed government to get things working right; not just in the aviation sector, but across the entire sectors.

"Our planes are currently undergoing regular checks, which is the reason we have been running skeletal operations of about three days a week; however, we hope to fully commence our daily operations as soon as the checks are complete and our planes are fully back.

"Our relationship with the State is very cordial and we hope to sustain it by ensuring we serve the people satisfactorily. For about 18 years, no plane has landed here once it is night, but we are optimistic that there will be an improvement in terms of facilities within the Airport, that will enable planes land at night and the issue of flight cancellations - a thing of the past."

At the premises of CITA, suppliers of Jet A1 (aviation fuel), the Station Manager disclosed that although his station currently has enough products for supply; he however, complained that their challenge was that of bad vehicles as well as some bad portions of the Calabar/Itu Road, which makes it difficult and expensive to move products to the State.