Lagos -------------- The Chief Executive Officer, Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema, has expressed the company’s readiness to operate direct flights to Israel.

The Media Executive, Air Peace,Mr Stanley Olisa said in a statement in Lagos on Saturday.quoted Onyema as speaking during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, NCPC, boss in Abuja.

Olisa said that the Executive Secretary of NCPC, Rev Yakubu Pam, also hinted that by the end of November, direct flights from Nigeria to Israel would be launched.

He further said that Pam spoke while playing host to the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Michael Freeman and Onyema in his office in Abuja.

Olisa also, said the NCPC boss as saying, ”having a direct flight to Israel by a Nigerian airline will curtail the issue of high expenditure and reduce abscondment.

“Our joy is that our own person, a Nigerian, will be the first to have this opportunity to airlift pilgrims directly to Israel.”

The NCPC boss, according to Olisa, said that it would reduce the cost of flight drastically.

Olisa further quoted Pam as expressing gratitude to the Ambassador for considering it imperative to pay a courtesy visit to NCPC barely nine months after assuming office.

“We are very humble to receive you here in your capacity as one who represents the entire country of Israel in Nigeria,” Pam said.

Pam was also, quoted as saying that NCPC was set up primarily to coordinate and supervise the movement of Christians to Israel and other Holy places around the world.

He commended the Ambassador for his zeal and doggedness in charting a way forward for Christian Pilgrimage and also applauded Onyema for his national humanitarian interventions.

Also, the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Michael Freeman, according to the statement, thanked the NCPC boss for all his efforts in advancing the cause of Christian Pilgrimage in Nigeria, even as he expressed delight working with the NCPC, noting, “We have a true partnership to grow together.”