The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema shared an emotional moment of his journey as an entrepreneur, saying that he wept when he bought his first aircraft.
The Air Peace boss said this in a video shared by the airline to commemorate its 10th anniversary.
Onyema founded his airline in 2013. It began airline operations with Dornier 328s and Boeing 737s.
The airline made its first international route to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana in 2017 and has become the largest domestic airline.
The CEO described his journey as “emotional” considering his humble beginning.
Onyema narrated, “When I look back and I remember the day I bought my first aircraft that was a Dornier 328s. I was in Monaco when we negotiated the sale, myself and Engr. Gbolahan Abatan. We went to Monaco to negotiate it and we took the delivery of the aircraft from the airport in Nice, France.
“We flew to Bournemouth in England. I cried, I wept. When we were flying, I just sat in the aircraft, looked down and said to myself, ‘So, I bought this aircraft?’
“Growing from a humble beginning and getting to where one was, the feeling was very emotional the moment I was crying on the aircraft and Gbolahan was by my side and there.
“It was over the international waters that we signed the delivery of the aircraft before we landed in Bournemouth in England. So, even today, the motivation and only satisfaction I get is when I get to the airport and see our planes taking off and landing.
“It raises my adrenaline. I like seeing it. I like going on the street and looking towards the sky seeing an aircraft and it is Air Peace. It is addictive.”
In an interview he granted in April, Onyema said the airline possesses over 30 aircraft and has placed orders for an additional 33.