aircraft maintenance

Stakeholders in the aviation industry reasoned that
Nigerian and West African airlines could save billions of dollars annually on
aircraft maintenance with the establishment of Aero Contractors’ Maintenance,
Repair and Overhaul facility at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The stakeholders made this known at the roll-out
of the first successfully conducted Boeing 737-500 C-check at the facility,
recently.

A former President of the National Association of
Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, Isaac Balami, said airlines in the West African
sub-region were spending at least $1bn yearly on the maintenance of aircraft in
Europe and America.

He said Aero’s MRO facility would help to curb
capital flight in that area of operation of the airlines.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi
Sirika, noted that airlines were spending at least $1.8m on each C-check on
their B737 classic, the most commonly used aircraft for domestic flight
operations in the country.

 “Just
yesterday, Aero Contractors was on the verge of being written off as another
failed airline in Nigeria; but today, the story is different,” with the
takeover by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, he said.

The Managing Director, AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, stated
that aviation remained a critical sector for the country’s economic prosperity.

While appealing to the Nigeria Customs Service to
ensure easy passage and clearance of tools for the maintenance process, he
stated that Aero had applied to be granted a free trade zone status by the
Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority to help the turnaround time for the
MRO facility.

It will be recalled that the most successful MRO
in Africa today is Ethiopian MRO situated at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa Ethiopia.