Amazon IBOM AIR: An Adman’s view By Rufai Ladipo

My friend Udeme must hear this:

A few minutes ago, I arrived Lagos on Ibom Air, what a beautiful experience.

I had cut short my trip from the advertising conference, due to other pressing biz matters. And since I was on the apcon groupie tkt, my ticket won’t change, even if my last name is Buhari.

So no argument. Right there at the Hilton I shopped around for a one way tkt bk to Lag. The airlines paraded themselves and I needed that one would leave by midday, so that I can attend briefly, Mr Shobanjo’s breakfast chat.

I went thru the price menu and Ibom Air was had the highest tarrif. I decided to take the plunge with A/Ibom Air, and boy, No Regret.

Their first moment of truth was at the check in counter. The attendants, beautiful young ladies were happy to see me. Their hospitality was infectious. Prior to gettin my boarding pass, a young man had approached me, weighed my luggage to make sure it complied with aviation guidelines. I was good to go.

Remember, the airline is ever on time, I heard, and it was my first time. Due to some fuelling issues. The take-off was delayed by 10mins.

Now inside the spanking clean aircraft, everyone took their seats. No struggle. No fuss. The air attendants look clean and smell nice. The air safety notification was recorded and aired without any blemish.

We had on board two recently checkmated politicians in the biz class cabin next to me. One, an ex-senator is well known to me. We exchanged pleasantries. The other is an exSW governor. They just sat down like the rest of us. Nobody noticed or cared about them.

The flight was smooth. The refreshment was fresh. Take-off and landing perfect. And what amazed me again was the local relevance. All announcements were made in English and the local AKwa Ibom dialect.

I must appreciate the state of Akwa Ibom for setting the gold standard in local air travel, while also congratulating one of us for the great job in Akwa Ibom brand repositioning. Well done Udeme.