Ogun to float Gateway Air, more states mull setting up airlines 

There are indications that Ogun State will be joining states in Nigeria that have floated airlines.

The airline to be named Gateway Air is the brainchild of the government of Ogun State, as the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, is set to use aviation as a launch pad for the economic transformation of the state.

A source who is in the know and who pleaded anonymity said the state is processing all the necessary documents for the all-important Air Operator Certificate (AOC) with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

There’s also an indication that a former Managing Director of one of Nigeria’s defunct flag carriers will head the carrier, just as one of the country’s fast-growing airlines, ValueJet, will manage the airline until it finishes the processes for AOC.

The Ogun State government, as part of its newfound love for aviation, has completed a state-of-the-art Gateway International Airport, Iperu-Ilishan, and the floating of an airline by the state observers said could position it strongly as an aviation hub.

The GWI, Iperu’s strategic location is in Ilishan/Iperu, Ogun State, Nigeria, near the Sagamu Interchange and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

This prime position offers easy access from key economic centres and functions as an alternative to Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed Airport. It places it adjacent to an agro-industrial processing zone and a free zone, positioning it as a major hub for both cargo exports and a regional aerodrome.

 operations.

The GWI Airport, Iperu Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, was on August 15, 2025. The approval allows the airport to operate scheduled commercial air transport flights.

Ibom Air, Cally and Enugu Air are three existing airlines owned 100 per cent by the governments of Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Enugu States in a new wave of airlines set up by state governments.

Aviation Metric learnt that more states are mulling doing the same.