The government of Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria has taken delivery of the first two of three E145s destined for its airline start-up Caliphate Air, which is currently undergoing certification with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
According to social media posts and ADS-B data, the first two E145s, 18.1-year-old 5N-SOK (msn 14501024), previously registered as VT-GSS, and 21.7-year-old 5N-SOL (msn 14500871), previously registered as VT-GSF, arrived at Kano, Nigeria, on July 9.
They were ferried there from Mbombela in South Africa, where they had been in pre-delivery maintenance with Embraer specialist CDMA (South Africa). Their ferry flights had routed via Windhoek International and Luanda 4 De Fevereiro.
Caliphate Air managing director Abioye Abdulkareem has confirmed to ch-aviation that the third E145, 5N-SOM (msn 14500845) previously registered as VT-GSC, is expected in Kano in early August.
He also confirmed that all three aircraft are fully owned by Caliphate Air, which bought them from Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt Ltd, part of Indian conglomerate Sanjay Ghodawat Group. Star Air (India), an aviation brand that is part of the group, previously operated the three E145s.
According to ADS-B data, Star Air withdrew the three aircraft from service on different dates between June and December 2025. 5N-SOM was ferried from Bengaluru International in December 2025, followed by 5N-SOK in January 2026 and 5N-SOL in April 2026. They arrived in Mbombela in January, February, and April 2026, respectively.
In early July 2026, the NCAA said Caliphate Air was redoing the formal application (Phase Two) of its air operator's certificate (AOC) process, which includes detailed operational documents.
