Leadership
The airline currently employs over 120 staff including flight crew, with offices throughout Nigeria and overseas offices in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Belgium.
Captain Val Tongo has over 30 years' experience in the aviation industry. After successful stints first with Intercontinental Airlines and later with Okada Airlines in the 1990s — then Nigeria's foremost private carrier — he joined the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria in 1996 as Senior Special Assistant to the then Managing Director, becoming an influential member of the management team that transformed the organisation and repositioned it for the aviation world of the 21st century.
In his desire to continue flying, he joined DAS Air Cargo where he rose to become one of the carrier's DC-10 pilots, before founding his own cargo airline business in 1998. He has been Managing Director of Allied Air Limited since then. He was appointed a member of the Ministerial Committee on Aviation and served as a Board member of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) until 2012; in October 2015 he was appointed to the ministerial committee for the establishment of the proposed Nigerian National Carrier.
In 2015 he successfully led his management team through the IOSA audit — making Allied Air the first cargo airline in Africa to receive this certification — and the airline was subsequently admitted as a member of IATA.
An architect by profession, Mrs. Rukky Tongo has a thriving architectural practice and is involved in a number of initiatives on the ecosystem and the effects of climate change on the environment.
She joined the Board of Allied Air Limited in 1998, where her varied experience and contributions have been most invaluable. She also sits on the Board of other Nigerian companies.
Due to the premium placed on safety by Allied Air, the airline went beyond the shores of Nigeria in the search for a competent and tested aircraft maintenance engineer. Engineer Eric is Congolese and was initially engaged as Engineering Planning Manager in 2008, a position he occupied till 2010, when he was promoted Chief Inspector. Due to continued outstanding on-the-job performance he was again promoted to the position of Director of Maintenance in 2012.
He is highly knowledgeable in aircraft technicalities and maintenance with over 15 years' experience. Prior to joining Allied Air, Eric worked with airlines such as Trans Service Airlines Congo, Wimbi Dira Airways and Bravo Air Congo DRC. He speaks English and French fluently.