The airline was established in February 1980 by Dr. Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Dankabo and started operations in April 1981. It is currently wholly owned by Kabo Holdings. The airline originally operated special charter services for corporate bodies, executives and government officials. The company stopped operating domestic services in 2001 when they focus solely on Hajj flights and international charters. However, in 2009 the airline received approval to start international scheduled services. Traffic rights were given to Kabo Air for operating scheduled services to Rome, Nairobi and N'Djamena, but have not been used. The airline operated scheduled flights from Kano to Abuja, Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah for a short period. Kabo Air met the requirements set by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for re-capitalization in May 2007. On 3 March 2017, the offices of Kabo Air were sealed by the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service due to unpaid tax liabilities. It has been reported that Kabo Air owes over 149 million Nigerian naira in taxes.
Destinations
As of March 2017, Kabo Air does not operate any scheduled services and focuses on charter operations, especially for pilgrim flights under its own name and on behalf of other airlines.
Fleet
Current fleet
As of August 2019, the Kabo Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:
On 16 September 1991, a BAC 1-11 landed at Port Harcourt Airport, Nigeria without lowering its gear. All passengers and crew survived but the aircraft was written off.
On 23 August 1992, a BAC 1–11 overran the runway at Sokoto Airport, Nigeria. None of the 53 passengers and 4 crew were killed but the aircraft was written off.
On 12 January 2010, a Middle East AirlinesAirbus A330 collided with a parked Kabo Air Boeing 747 while taxiing to its arrival gate at Kano International Airport, Nigeria; none of the passengers or crew were injured. The Boeing 747left wing and main fuel tank were badly damaged and the right wing of the Airbus A330 was damaged. Officials believe the accident could have been avoided if there was more ground lighting to help the pilots of the Airbus A330 to see.
In September 2013, a Kabo Air Boeing 747-200 operated on a Hajj charter on behalf of Biman Bangladesh Airlines was refused to receive permission to land in Saudi Arabia as the aircraft at age 21 violated the country's guidelines for aircraft to be a maximum 20 years old to be operated into Saudi Arabia. Biman Bangladesh claimed that Kabo Air did give wrong information regarding the plane age.
On 4 October 2013, a Kabo Air Boeing 747–200 on a Hajj charter flight from Kano via Sokoto to Jeddah was cleared to land on Sokoto's runway 08. However the aircraft continued to land on the opposite runway 26 for unknown reasons. The aircraft came in too low and hit parts of the ILS before coming to stop with some burst tyres. The Nigerian aviation authorities rated this incident as serious and started investigations on why the crew chose the wrong runway.
