The federal government has said it is set to proceed in its bid to establish Aviation Leasing Company in the country.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika stated this yesterday after he received the Outline Business Case certificates for the proposed Aviation Leasing Company and the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission at the headquarters of the aviation ministry in Abuja.
Sirika noted that the latest acquisition would enable the government begin work on the procurements for the ALC and MRO and thanked the ICRC for making sure that the certificates were issued the government after all due process were completed.
He said the government recently announced the transaction advisers for the ALC and MRO, adding that with the certificates, the TAs would be empowered to take further steps in their duties.
While speaking at the function, the acting director-general, ICRC, Chidi Izuwah, said the MRO was the most important link in the aviation value chain as the major consideration in the industry was safety.
He said, “Considering the importance of the MRO, it is incomprehensible that none exist in the West African region, 98 years after the first aircraft landed in the country in 1920.
“The lack of an MRO has had a negative impact on the survival of airlines in the country as airlines have struggled to maintain their fleet or stay in business for consistently long periods as seen in other climes, due to the exorbitant cost of maintenance that isn’t available locally and the time it takes to fly the aircraft for checks.”
On the ALC, Izuwah said it was estimated that about 70 per cent of commercial aircraft in Nigeria were leased and 50 per cent of the fleet globally.
He noted that despite the obvious market for aircraft leases, the West Africa region does not have a single Aviation Leasing Company and relied solely on leasing companies in Europe, North America and Asia for aircraft.
