Air Peace (P4, Lagos) is negotiating with Barbados and the Africa Export-Import Bank (also known as Afreximbank) about twice-weekly direct flights there from Lagos, Nigeria, from the second quarter of 2023, according to the Barbados Government Information Service.
According to Barbados' ambassador to the CARICOM Caribbean Community, David Comissiong, the talks are proceeding well. He was speaking to local media at an event celebrating Ghana's 66th anniversary. Afreximbank - a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution - is partnering with Barbados and negotiating with the African airline to achieve airlift from West Africa, he explained.
Air Peace was not immediately available for comment. The airline owns one B777-200ER and two B777-300s, both of which have the necessary range for the 6,913-kilometre distance between Lagos and Barbados.
Chief Executive Officer Allen Onyema also recently claimed to be talking to Boeing over a potential B787 order. However, US authorities have confirmed to ch-aviation that 36 counts of fraud and money laundering against Onyema, Chief of Finance and Administration Ejiroghene Eghagha, and Air Peace remain in place, casting doubts over any potential deal between the carrier and Boeing. The manufacturer has also halted B787 deliveries over documentation issues related to a fuselage component. Boeing has declined to comment on any potential deal with Air Peace.
Comissiong appeared optimistic about the talks with Air Peace, saying: "Hopefully, before the middle of the year, we're going to have that direct airline licence, not between Ghana and Barbados, but it's likely to be between Lagos and Barbados twice a week. So, once we can get on that plane at Grantley Adams [Bridgetown] airport and fly across the Atlantic to Lagos, that is just a short journey from Lagos to Accra, Ghana."
He added: "I am very impressed with the seriousness with which the African Export-Import Bank does anything that they put their hands to, and if they tell us that it looks promising, I am confident that that flight is going to materialise, and I would wager a bet that it will be a reality in the first half of this year."
