Max Air on Thursday commenced scheduled domestic flights with its inaugural flight from Kano to Abuja.
The airline’s entry into the scheduled operations market brings the number of domestic airlines to ten.
Their inaugural flight from Kano to Abuja was operated on a Boeing 737-300 aircraft with 29 passengers on board, comprising 27 adults and two children, it landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at 8:50 a.m.
Max Air, owned by the business mogul, Alh. Mangal had previously only operated charter flights, pilgrimage flights to Hajj and Umrah, a business it has done for over a decade before it decided to add scheduled operations.
The Vice Chairman/CEO of the airline, Alhaji Bashir Mangal, who was onboard the maiden flight to Abuja told journalists on arrival that Max Air will change the flight experience of air travelers in Nigeria offering on time departures and quality in-flight services.
He noted that though the Kano, Abuja to Lagos route is the first to be introduced; a couple more destinations will follow not long from now.
Some of the routes under consideration he said include; Sokoto, Yola, Port Harcourt and Maiduguri.
He said the airline will still carry out Hajj, Umrah and charter operations.
According to him, Max Air is starting its domestic operation with three aircraft which include B737-300, 400 and 500 with an expansion plan to increase its fleet soon.
“Right now we have a total of 11 aircraft in ground for all our operations of which we currently deploy seven for Hajj and three for domestic" for domestic operations.
“We are not new in this industry because we started slowly with worldwide charter and later entered into Hajj operation and now domestic" he explained.
“We plan to join other long haul flight like China, UK and the U.S in the nearest future.
“We are going to operate Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Maiduguri, Yola and Sokoto for a start and we will operate other routes as time goes on" he said.
“We are determined to satisfy our passengers through better service in order to make them happy to see the difference" he assured.
"We want to do something different to satisfy their needs because we are aware of the challenges in the industry,” he said.
Mr Shehu Wada, Company Secretary/Executive Director Business Development, Max Air, said the airline was determine to change the game of domestic operation in Nigeria.
Wada noted that the entrance of the airline into hajj operation market brought about positive change to hajj operation in Nigeria.
