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 fleets advanced data reveals. The second B737-300, 5N-BYQ (msn 30334), is a 21-year old aircraft configured with 149 all-economy seating. It was last registered on Flightradar24 ADS-B data as having flown from Riga to Ostrava on December 17, 2020. It was photographed at Ostrava in Cally Air livery on December 27. According to the ch-aviation history module, it flew with airBaltic as YL-BBX from April 19, 2008 to March 3, 2020.