UNITED NIGERIA AIRLINES MAKES INAUGURAL LANDING IN ACCRA, NAMES PLANE AFTER RAWLINGS
The new carrier, aiming to unite African communities, has become the 25th international airline to operate at Kotoka International Airport and will offer direct flights from Abuja and Lagos.
United Nigeria Airlines has successfully launched its international operations with an inaugural flight from Lagos to Accra. The event marks the first time the four-year-old airline has flown outside of Nigeria.
The aircraft used for the historic journey was named after the late former President of Ghana, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, in a tribute to his Pan-African ideals. Speaking at a ceremony at Kotoka International Airport, the airline’s Public Relations Officer, Chibuike Oloka, explained the symbolic choice.
“The late former President Jerry John Rawlings has been one person who drives the African vision,” he stated. “He’s a Pan-Africanist… who has always driven African unity. There is no other person most suitable or most befitting to have named this aircraft after.”
Oloka emphasized that the airline’s core mission is to “unite communities, unite people, unite places,” which informed their decision to make Accra their first international destination, celebrating the longstanding brotherhood between Ghana and Nigeria.
The Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Yvonne Nana Afriyie Opare, officially welcomed United Nigeria Airlines as the 25th international carrier to operate at the airport. She stated that the move reinforces ongoing efforts to position Ghana as the preferred aviation hub in West Africa.
The airline will operate a daily flight between Abuja and Accra, a strategic capital-to-capital route with high demand, alongside four weekly flights from Lagos. The airline aims to build a reputation for punctuality and service, with future plans to station an aircraft overnight in Accra to facilitate early morning departures.
Source:NKONKONSA.com
