The airline apologised to passengers affected by flight disruption.

Ibom Air, a commercial airline owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government has refuted media reports alleging it has stopped flights to the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar, Cross River State.

The airline's group Manager, Marketing and Communications, Aniekan Essienette, stated this in a statement on Wednesday.

"The fact is that, as a result of the sudden unserviceability of one of our aircraft, we had to reduce some of our scheduled operations, including the Abuja-Calabar route. It is crucial to note that our Lagos to Calabar flights have continued to operate daily."

Mrs Essienette said the airline has notified the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the affected passengers of the situation.

"We are also working to bring the unserviceable aircraft back to serviceability. Once restored to operational status, the Abuja-Calabar route will resume. We anticipate the completion of these repairs within a few days."

The airline apologised to the affected passengers and assured them of its commitment to ensure uninterrupted services to Calabar in the future.

Ibom Air, with seven aircraft (five Bombardier CR900 and two Airbus A220-300) in its fleet, flies 11 routes spanning six cities in the country - Abuja, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Lagos and Uyo.

The airline, which launched its maiden flight in June 2019, is rated as one of the most successful in Nigeria, and has won the best airline of the year for three consecutive years - 2020, 2021 and 2022.

It is expanding its commercial flights to West and Central African countries, and is expecting the arrival of the first batch of the 10 brand new aircraft which its signed an agreement with Airbus in November 2021.