Barely a day after Aero Contractors Airlines, Nigeria’s second largest airline, announced a suspension of its scheduled flight operations and placed its workforce on indefinite leave with effect from Thursday, September 1, 2016, another indigenous carrier, First Nation Airlines has shut down its operations to maintain its aircraft.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, in a statement, confirmed that the decision by the First Nation Airlines was taken in order to ensure that the airline carried out the required maintenance of its aircraft.
The statement said: “The First Nation Airlines on its part is in the middle of an Engine Replacement Programme for one of its aircraft. Another aircraft is due for mandatory maintenance as allowed by the regulatory authority.
“In these circumstances, these airlines clearly cannot continue to undertake schedule operations, hence the inevitable recourse to self regulatory suspension.”
Usman stated that the domestic airlines had not wound down their operations, but were “merely suspending their operations temporarily to enable them undertake certain operational overhaul and strengthen their overall operational outlay.”
FirstNation with its headquarters in Lagos was founded and chaired by the ex-CEO of Bellview Kayode Odukoya and received its first three leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft in early April 2011. The airline ceased operations in October 2012, reportedly because of problems with serviceability. The three Airbus A320s were repossess by a lessor, the Aviation Capital Group.
FirstNation resumed daily flights to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in October 2013. Its fleet consists of two Airbus A319-113s formerly owned by the Italian low-cost airline Wind Jet.
