Cally Air is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

owned by the

Cross River State Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967. The state has its capital as Calabar and is bordered to ...

Government. The flights of the airline are operated by Aero Contractors.

History

The airline commenced operations on 16 July 2021, when a Boeing 737 aircraft was welcomed on touchdown by

Benedict Ayade Benedict Bengiuoshuye Ayade (; born 2 March 1968) is a Nigerian politician who served as the governor of Cross River State from 2015 to 2023. He served as Senator for Cross River North from 2011 to 2015. Early life He was born in Obudu LGA ...

, the then Governor of Cross River State, who boarded the aircraft for inspection and lauded the event as the realization of a dream that had started in 2017.

Description

Cally Air has its hub at the

Margaret Ekpo International Airport Margaret Ekpo International Airport , also known as Calabar Airport, is an airport serving Calabar, the capital of the Cross River State in Nigeria. The airport is named after Margaret Ekpo, who was one of Nigeria's pioneering feminist and anti ...

Calabar although most flights are conducted out of

Murtala Muhammed International Airport Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) () is an international airport located in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, and is the major airport serving the entire state. The airport was initially built during World War II and is named after Murt ...

in Lagos. The airline has two Boeing 737-300 and in May 2025 added two CRJ 1000 aircraft. Cally Air flights are operated by Aero Contractors and in July 2025 will also be operated by Valuejet Airlines out of their Lagos home base . Aero Contractors uses the aircraft of Cally Air for its own domestic operations. This is because Cally Air does not have an

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

. In June 2025, Cally Air hired a new management team to commence its AOC process and will operate its two CRJ 1000 aircraft under Valuejet during the period of its AOC process.

Destinations

As of May 2024, Cally Air flies to the following destinations in Nigeria.

Fleet

As of June 2025, Cally Air has the following fleet.

Accidents and incidents

On November 12, 2023, a Cally Air

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

aircraft registered as 5N-BYQ skidded off the runway while landing at the

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is an international airport serving Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. It is the main airport serving the Nigerian capital city and was named after Nigeria's first President, Nnamdi Azikiw ...

in Abuja. The aircraft, which had arrived from Lagos and was operated by

Aero Contractors (Nigeria) Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Limited, known as Aero Contractors or simply Aero, is a state-controlled Nigerian airline company based at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. Furthermore, it operates helico ...

, became stuck with its nose gear in soft ground. There were no reports of serious injuries. This incident caused significant disruption at the airport. The runway was closed for several hours while the aircraft was removed, leading to flight delays, diversions, and cancellations. The

Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), formerly the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), is a federal agency charged with the mandate of promoting transport safety and conducting objective and thorough investigations into transport acciden ...

launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

References