Nigeria’s Azman Air begins commercial A340 operations

Azman Air (AZM, Kano) has deployed its sole widebody aircraft, an A340-600, into commercial service after completing its type certification with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The privately-owned airline said 5N-AAM (msn 765) had been recruited to conduct evacuation charters from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to “various European countries” without any further details.

The 15.1-year-old ex-Virgin Atlantic quadjet was ferried from Kano to Dushanbe on a direct flight on August 26, 2021, but has yet to begin operating charters out of the Tajik airport, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

The Nigerian carrier took delivery of the jet in December 2020, following which it set about type certification. The 409-seat aircraft operated several domestic flights, most likely for proving purposes, and flights to Dakar Blaise Diagne Int’l and Nassau Int’l in June 2021.

Azman Air, which was grounded between March and May 2021 by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) due to safety concerns, also operates two B737-300s and four B737-500s on a domestic network connecting Kano, Lagos, Abuja, Maiduguri, and Kaduna Int’l. Before its grounding, it had planned to add more A340s and three B737-800s.