Nigeria's Cally Air secures first B737

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Nigeria's Cally Air takes delivery of first aircraft, a B737

Nigerian startup Cally Air (Calabar) has taken delivery of its first aircraft, a B737-300 bought from Magnetic Leasing, to be based out of Calabar, with a second B737-300 on order.

5N-BYR (msn 29266) was delivered to Lagos on April 6, 2021, after it was ferried from Tallinn Lennart Meri via Malta Int'l to Nigeria, according to FlightRadar24 ADS-B data.

The 22-year-old jet is the first of two former airBaltic (BT, Riga) B737-300s secured from Magnetic Leasing by the nascent airline, which is a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Nigerian state of Cross River and Dana Air (9J, Lagos) in a bid to boost tourism to the state bordering Cameroon and the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Aero Contractors (N2, Lagos) is the actual carrier that will operate the aircraft for Cally Air, however.

Configured with 144 all-economy seating, 5N-BYR previously flew with airBaltic (BT, Riga) as YL-BBR from March 31, 2009, to June 30, 2020, whereafter it was stored, the ch-aviation...

Nigerian virtual carrier Imo Air begins operations

Imo Air (Owerri) is a Nigerian virtual carrier that inaugurated scheduled commercial operations this past week.

Using MD-83 5N-SRI (msn 53020) chartered from Dana Air (9J, Lagos), Imo Air conducted its maiden flight - Lagos-Owerri, Imo State located in southeastern Nigeria.

Imo Air is owned by the Imo State government and aims to improve the region's connectivity with the rest of the country.

“We have five of these aircraft, and this is the first one that we have just acquired. We hope to go to a full blown carrier by 2018," the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, told Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper. "We have a partnership agreement with Dana, which spans about 10 years. We only gave them this aircraft for them to manage it for us because they are professional in the Nigerian aviation industry."

Aside from Imo Air, Owerri is connected to Lagos and Abuja by Air Peace (P4, Lagos), Arik Air (W3, Lagos), and Dana Air...

Nigeria's Cross River State to set-up Cally Air venture

Dana Air (9J, Lagos) is set to partner the Nigerian state government of Cross River in the development of new domestic carrier, dubbed Cally Air (Calabar).

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, state governor Ben Ayade told a media conference in the capital, Calabar, this past weekend that the airline is part of his government's bid to encourage tourism to the state, situated along Nigeria's border with Cameroon and its Atlantic Ocean front.

Cally Air will be managed by Dana Group under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Using the state's Dash 8-200 5N-GRS (cn 547), Cally Air is planning to start flights in November serving Obudu, Lagos and Abuja from its Calabar hub. Until recently, the VIP-configured Bombardier Aerospace turboprop was operated by the now dormant Aero Contractors (N2, Lagos).