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For the past 30 years, there have been plans by the Nigerian government to establish a major aircraft maintenance facility, but the plans have remained elusive until last week when Air Peace, with government’s affirmation, made substantive commitment to establish one at Lagos airport, writes Chinedu Eze

Generally, Airlines spend more money on fuel and aircraft maintenance, but in developed countries of the world, airlines pay less for maintenance because the facilities are readily available to the airlines. In Africa, the situation is different because most African countries do not have major aircraft maintenance facilities, a situation that compelled African airline operators to ferry their aircraft overseas for major checks and maintenance.

To achieve this, the airline must use its naira revenue to purchase dollars, a tall order given exchange rate fluctuations. Also, Nigerian airline operators buy spares and then park the aircraft to wait for its slot time. In ferrying the aircraft overseas, the airlines pay the pilots, pay for fuel, pay for long haul flights and also pay for accommodation. The aircraft could be losing revenue of N4 million daily if it is Boeing 737 or its equivalent. This means that besides cost of fuel, which takes over 50 per cent of the cost of operation, cost of aircraft maintenance is the next.

This is why the Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Mesfin Tasew, believes that one of the challenges of African airlines is maintaining their aircraft overseas. He believes that an airline will do better if it maintains its fleet locally and this brings to the fore, the importance of establishing a major Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in the country.

To address the aircraft maintenance challenges in Nigeria, Air Peace, last week, made the bold steps toward establishing major MRO facility at the Lagos airport.

During the ground-breaking ceremony, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Dr. Allen Onyema, disclosed that in 2024, the airline spent about N180 billion on aircraft maintenance. The total number of aircraft managed by other airlines is almost equal or a little more than Air Peace fleet and this means that Nigerian carrier spend about double that amount in aircraft maintenance annually.

Onyema, expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, emphasising that without their support the project would not have started.

The project, which is in collaboration with Embraer of Brazil, is slated to be completed in 15 months.

“The truth has to be told. And I have a reason for telling this truth. We paid for this land eight years ago, but it took the coming of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and that of our Honourable Minister of Aviation, for us to get it. I’m not a politician, but I like saying things the way they are. The coming of Mr. President and the appointment of a square peg into a square hole in the aviation sector have driven aviation to the stars and the moons, and we are the beneficiaries,” Onyema said.

Onyema who also spoke about the huge cost of maintaining Air Peace fleet overseas, said: “Last year alone, I was told by my chief financial officer that we expended over N180 billion on maintenance abroad. So the amount we spent to buy spare parts and to maintain our aircraft abroad is alarming. With an MRO like this, with a maintenance, repair, and overhaul station like this one, Nigeria will start attracting foreign investment because all our airlines all over the world, be it from Europe, be it from America, both continents of America, both North and South America, they will also bring their planes here for servicing.”

Aviation minister, Festus Keyamo in his speech at the ground-breaking event said the project would attract foreign investment because foreign airlines that come to maintain their aircraft at the facility will pay in foreign currency and this will be a kind of reversal. Currently Nigerian airlines pay in foreign currency to maintain their aircraft overseas; now, foreign airlines will pay FX to maintain their aircraft in Nigeria. It will also save capital flight because all the million spent overseas in maintenance put at over $2 billion annually will be saved.

“We are going to attract foreign inflows. This is because in the whole of West Africa and Central Africa, there are no major MROs that can service wide body aircraft. I was even thinking that this is for a single aisle aircraft but it is for both wide body and single aisle aircraft. You don’t have such in the whole of West Africa and Central Africa.This is a huge monument we are going to have here. Now, I’m also glad that the shuttle of Mr. President to Brazil has begun to pay off.

“Embraer is now going to give you technical support for this facility.Mr. President has been very, very anxious and supportive for us to open up our trade relations with South America to attract this kind of investment,” the minister said.

Keyamo also said the administration of President Tinubu and he as minister, would continue to support indigenous airlines and wondered how a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would see the undermining of the stakeholders in the industry as the cornerstone of his policies.”

Reacting to the challenge of maintaining aircraft overseas by Nigerian and other African carriers, the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Ibom Air, George Uriesi, recently said: “One of the most debilitating challenges confronting the airline business in Africa. You have an airline and you procure modern equipment, but you cannot maintain these aircraft yourself. You have to outsource it to other foreign airlines that are competing with you. They provide services for you at a huge premium, while competing against you. Every maintenance done for your costs way more than theirs costs them because they do it for themselves. As a result, our business model is heavily inefficient.”(This Day)