Kabo air was one of the Nigerian charter airline companies popular in the 90s to 2000s. The Kano-based airline which provided Hajj charter services is now largely forgotten. What happened?

Here is the genesis.

Origin of Kabo Air

Kabo Air was established in February 1980 solely by Dr. Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Dankabo, a Kano businessman, and started operations in April 1981. The first fleets the company started with were the Boeings OO-TEN and OO-TEO.

While the airline initially offered charter services to government officials, it stopped in 2002 to focus solely on Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia.

At a point, Kabo Air and its later competitor IRS Airlines dominated the northern aviation industry. The airline was at the peak of its power in 2002.

At a time, the Airline operated 47 planes in total including; 3 Boeing 737-200 (1983–1986), 11 Boeing 747-100 (1993–2003), and 9 Boeing 747-200 (1982–2008) amongst others.

Accidents

While an industry giant, Kabo Airline had its fair share of mishaps.

The Airline had two planes written off between 1986-1991 because of accidents. Another plane was damaged due to a fire on the right wing, in 1992. In 2013, an Air Air Boeing 747-200 Hajj charter on behalf of Biman Bangladesh Airlines was refused permission to land in Saudi Arabia. This was because the aircraft at age 21 had violated the maximum 20 years limit set by the Saudi government.

Downfall

While Kabo Airline originally operates charter services, it stopped focusing solely on Hajj operations. The Airline later received approval for international scheduled services to Rome, Nairobi, Dubai, and Jeddah.

The re-capitalization requirements set by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2007 hurt Kabo Air badly, even though they met the requirements.

This coupled with dwindling company finances and rising costs put the company in bad shape.

The final nail in the coffin came when In March 2017, Kabo Air was sealed by Nigerian authorities for failure to pay taxes of over 149 million Naira.

By 2019, Kabo Airline was listed amongst the Airlines with not-active, suspended, or expired Air Operator’s Certificates.

Thus came the sad end to what was once a towering giant.