FlightCom — Edition 108 — September 2017

36 FlightCom Magazine

up with products that customers need.

He applauded the management of Spring

Fountain and Mr Kayode Ariwodola,

Director AADF, who coordinated the

aviation training conference.

CAN NIGERIA LEAD MRO

REVIVAL?

Nigerian airlines are looking to establish

heavy maintenance facilities in the country to

reduce their operating costs. Allen Onyema,

Chairman of Air Peace, a domestic airline

in Nigeria, said the proposed investment

is encouraging. Industry observers expect

MRO development in West Africa to begin

in Nigeria because of the number of existing

and prospective airlines in the country.

However, the cost of operation and negative

operating environment in Nigeria make the

choice of other locations like Lome, Accra

and Dakar more attractive for such facilities.

Several aircraft maintenance organisation

(AMO) certificates have been issued by the

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),

especially to Nigerian airlines, though no

remarkable facility, such as ET Technical,

SAA Technical, and EgyptAir Technical has

been established in Nigeria.

Aero and Arik Air have hangar facilities

that handle a limited level of aircraft

maintenance. While Arik Air had plans

to set up an MRO with Lufthansa Technik

for heavy maintenance, the current turmoil

facing Arik Air poses a set-back to the plan.

Overland Airways, Nigeria’s longest-serving

airline, dedicated to secondary airports, is

nearing the completion of its own hangar at

the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, but

may not offer heavy maintenance anytime

soon.

Similarly, the Akwa Ibom International

Airport in eastern Nigeria boasts a large

space for the setting up of an MRO facility,

but, according to Jari Williams, former

Manager of the airport, awaits investment

from government and aircraft manufacturers.

However, a bright light in West Africa’s

MRO landscape is the Execujet centre in

Lagos, which mainly supports business

aviation. Furthermore, in Kaduna, northern

Nigeria, SkyJet, which offers charter and

aircraft management services, has a Hawker

Aircraft approved AMO and is certified by

Embraer to carry out L1 and L2 inspections

on Embraer Legacy 600 and Legacy 650

aircraft, according to Bruce Fullerton, Sales

Director of SkyJet. SkyJet plans to have its

“huge” facility in Abuja operational by the

end of 2017, Fullerton said.

Against the background of Nigeria’s

present economic recession, costly operating

environment and weak local currency, local

airline industry experts (including Dr Harold

Demuren, respected former Director General

of NCAA, and Mr Gbenga Olowo, President

of Sabre West Africa) state that, for Nigerian

airlines to be economically healthy, airfares

should be above N30,000 (about US$95) for

an hour of flight. This is discouraging for

over 70% of Nigeria’s population who pay

between 5,000 and 8,000 Naira for similar

distances by road. This situation limits

prospective passengers, as well as airline and

overall aviation activities, such as MROs, in

Nigeria.

Improving the operating environment

and revamping the economy to empower

over 40% of the 180 million population to fly

would enhance Nigeria’s chances of leading

West Africa’s MRO emergence and make

the country more attractive to airlines and

other investors. Overall, the prospects for

MROs in other states in West Africa remain

open for airlines that can attract strong

foreign partnership, such as ASKY, Air Cote

d’Ivoire, or Africa World Airlines.

Onedot is one of several organisations to have

received maintenance certificates, though none

are on the scale of SAAT or ET Technical.

airfares should be above

N30,000 (about US$95)

for an hour of flight.