BY OLAPEJU OLUBI
Air Peace has expanded its transatlantic reach with a historic nonstop flight from Abuja, Nigeria, to Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts & Nevis.
According to a statement from the airline, the service was operated on Nigeria’s Democracy Day celebration (June 12) when one of its Boeing 777 aircraft took off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and after a seamless 10-hour journey, landed at Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport.
This service registered the first-ever Nigerian arrival in the twin-island Caribbean nation’s aviation records.
The service, packaged for a Pan-African business conference in the Eastern Caribbean, carried Nigerian delegations and showcased the airline’s rising global profile.
The carrier said the event marks yet another strategic milestone as it pushes beyond regional boundaries to deepen Africa’s presence in long-haul aviation markets.
The new route also cements Air Peace’s expanding Caribbean footprint.
In December 2020, the airline broke ground with an 11-hour direct flight from Lagos to Montego Bay, Jamaica—the first nonstop connection between Nigeria and the Caribbean nation.
Three years later, in August 2023, another Boeing 777 operated a special flight from Lagos to Antigua & Barbuda, making Air Peace the first Nigerian airline to touch down in that territory.
The addition of St. Kitts & Nevis to the route map completes a historic trio of direct Caribbean services in under five years.
The Abuja–St. Kitts service utilised one of Air Peace’s long-haul Boeing 777s—the same widebody aircraft sustaining its daily Lagos–London Gatwick operations, which commenced on 30 March 2024 and marked a significant leap for privately owned Nigerian aviation.
Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Dr. Allen Onyema, has consistently signaled that more long-haul routes are on the horizon.
In an April 2024 interview with Arise TV, Onyema confirmed that the airline was in the final stages of acquiring additional widebody aircraft to bolster both its existing London operations and planned U.S. services to Houston and New York.
With the successful completion of the St. Onyema’s message remains clear and ambitious that the airline can connect the world and has “no stops, no limits.
