Air Peace others get new rival as Kano billionaire buys N4.2bn aircraft

Rano Air, a Nigerian startup airline, has received full approval to begin operations from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The company applied for an Air Transport License (ATL) with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in January to operate scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo services within and outside of Nigeria.

Bashir Ahmad, President Muhammadu Buhari's Special Assistant on New Media and Digital Communication, announced on his Twitter page on Sunday, 11 December 2022, that full approval had been received.

He also revealed that all is now set for the airline to begin airlifting passengers across the country.

He wrote: “Rano Air, one of the newest Nigerian airlines, founded in 2019, has gotten Federal Government approval to operate return flights domestically to/from, Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Kaduna, Sokoto, Gombe, Yola, Maiduguri, and Asaba”

History of Rano Air

Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the A.A. Rano Group and a Kano native, owns Rano Air.

Rano's entry into the aviation industry will elevate his standing in the Nigerian economy.

In preparation for the Rano Air operation, Dailytrust reports that he secured four EMB-145LRs aircraft to start operations in 2022.

Checks by Legit.ng show the average price of an Embraer ERJ-145LR for sale on GlobalAir.com is $2,395,000(N1.09 billion).

Rano had also successfully received Air Transport License (ATL) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The routes airline is expected to operate return flights domestically to/from, Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Kaduna, Sokoto, Gombe, Yola, Maiduguri, and Asaba.

History of Rano

Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano popularly known as A. A Rano was born on June 9th, 1944, in a Hausa-Fulani community called Lausu Village in Rano local government Area of Kano State Nigeria.

He made his money from distributing petroleum products which he started on a very small scale in the year 1994.

Report has that he built his first retail outlets in Kano State in 1996, and incorporated A. A Rano Nigeria Limited in the Year 2002.