The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has expressed concern about the inability of Nigerian carriers to compete with foreign carriers due to the humongous capital flight occasioned by a lack of critical mass.
He further stated that over 95% of Nigerians travelling outside the shores of the country are airlifted by foreign airlines, leading him to approve three key routes – Italy, Canada, and Turkey – to Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Air Peace.
The minister said it was his wish that many of the passengers travelling in and out of Nigeria be carried by the country’s airlines, stressing that the numbers are massive; an indication of how profitable the carriers would have been if they had enough equipment to operate and compete with their foreign counterparts. “I see many of the foreign carriers flying in and out of Nigeria.
We do not have anything against them, but I wish the passengers were airlifted by our own airlines,” he said. Keyamo, who spoke yesterday at Air Peace’s Maintenance, Repair Overhaul (MRO) ground-breaking ceremony at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, disclosed that the N32 billion facility, with the support of Bank of Industry (BOI) will be a game changer in tackling Nigerian airlines’ aircraft maintenance challenges.
He disclosed that yearly, Air Peace alone incurred about N150 billion on the maintenance of its aircraft overseas; a situation he noted had adversely affected the fortunes of not only the carrier but many other airlines in the country.
According to a former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, cumulatively, the lack of functional aircraft maintenance facilities otherwise known as Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) cost Nigeria $2.5 billion in 2021 in MRO overheads in neighbouring countries like Ethiopia, Morocco, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and other nations with advanced maintenance facilities.
The Minister, on his part, attributed the frequent collapse of airlines in Nigeria to a lack of aircraft maintenance facilities, among others, saying: “Over a hundred airlines have come and gone.
They did not survive before we came. When we came in, the first question we asked was how best we could support the airlines for their survival and growth. We are very unapologetic about our support for our airlines more than the foreign airlines.”
