United Nigeria Airlines Set to Establish Maintenance Facility in Nigeria

Chinedu Eze

It was a moment of joy for the aviation industry last week, when the Chairman and CEO of United Nigeria Airlines announced that the airline plans to establish Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria, in partnership with Cronos Aviation.

Although the Chairman and CEO of United Nigeria Airways, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, is yet to conclude where United Nigeria Airlines and its partner would locate the facility, but aviation stakeholders are happy that the call by the federal government for the establishment of major MRO facility in Nigeria, to enable Nigerian airlines maintain their aircraft locally, is beginning to yield results.

Maintaining aircraft locally has immense benefits, which include less demand on foreign exchange, job creation, especially highly skilled manpower development and generation of foreign exchange, as airlines from other countries will come and maintain their aircraft in Nigeria and pay for the services in dollars.

It is projected that Nigerian airlines and other aircraft owners in Nigeria spend over $2 billion annually on aircraft maintenance overseas, but with the planned establishment of MRO facility in Nigeria, the country could save over $1 billion annually.

Currently there are some maintenance facilities in Nigeria, which include Aero Contractors AMO, 7 Star maintenance hangar and others for private jets and another for helicopter. But all these cannot conduct maintenance on wide body and modern aircraft. They can do that on narrow bodies like Boeing 737 classic, Bombardier, some private jets and helicopters.

While announcing the plan to establish the maintenance facility in Nigeria, Okonkwo said: “You remember that our base is in Enugu and it would have been our desire to site it there. As of today, there is a very serious intention from the government of Enugu for it to be there, for them to partner with us. But, you know, sometimes it’s also important to back intentions with actions. But right now, we have alternatives and options, which we are reviewing, and then we pick it up in the very shortest time. So, there are options. We have some very viable options but where we should put it will remain a commercial secret for now.”

Some industry stakeholders told THISDAY that citing such facility in Enugu would boost the goodwill of the state as aviation hub because it will deepen the involvement of Enugu in aviation development in Nigeria.

“Do you know why countries and companies spend money to host events and businesses? It is because of other attractions, including good name and good image. If he builds such facility in Enugu, it will open up the state and create jobs, but there could be other viable locations like Lagos, Abuja and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria. Establishment of such facility in Nigeria will create a lot of skilled jobs and training. This is a low hanging fruit for Enugu State government to take advantage of and I hope there is interface going on between the state governor and the Chairman and CEO of United Nigeria Airways. It is an opportunity the governor should not miss,” a major travel agent told THISDAY.

In July this year, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, spoke about the importance of establishing a major MRO facility in Nigeria and noted that for such facility to be successful, it would have to be private sector driven.

He also disclosed that some foreign investors had indicated interest in investing in such facility in Nigeria because of the potential Nigeria has as a major travel destination, considering its growing population and the predilection of Nigerians to travel.

The Minister spoke about the importance of having major MRO, saying that it will save Nigeria a lot of money because Nigerian airlines will no more ferry their aircraft overseas for maintenance, an action that will reduce forex demand of Nigerian carriers, which require dollars to pay for aircraft maintenance overseas.

“It is big business. Anybody that establishes a world-class MRO now will make money. Such MRO facility that can attend to large-body aircraft like Boeing 777 and it will really attract a lot of customers from the whole of West Africa, Central Africa and even Southern Africa. There is none so far in the whole of West Africa and Central Africa for the real big body aircraft, which are the wide bodies.

“The Arabs are talking to us. The Chinese are talking to us. The Europeans are talking to us. The Americans are talking to us because they want to invest. And you know why it has to be PPPs. It is difficult to establish an MRO at an independent venue, different from an existing airport. You can’t build it, because you need a runway to get to an MRO. So, it is pretty difficult. So, you have to talk with us for us to give you one within one of our international airports. We are in the process of doing a master plan. We are going to mark out clear areas for MROs within the international airports. We are telling you to come and make money. So, we are not begging for investment. Come and make money,” Keyamo said.

United Nigeria Airlines and Cronos Aviation have answered that call and hopefully the Minister will give every support necessary for the partnership to see to the actualisation of the project. Enugu State can also take advantage of it by providing land close to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport for the companies to build the facility.

The CEO of Cronos Aviation, Andeas Kaiafas, said the company had major MRO in South Africa and that the one it would build in Nigeria in partnership with United Nigeria Airlines, would have operational specification that would include wide-body aircraft like Boeing B777, Embraer E190, Boeing B737 NG and Classic and others.

“We have the capacity of people who have experience on different types of aircraft. Those are strategic decisions based on the existence of fleet in the region. If it needs to add other type of aircraft, you require the proper tooling and the proper personnel with experience. So, it will be very easy for us afterwards to amend the operational specifications and add a different type of aircraft. But that will go along with what we operate in the region. “It is not only to do maintenance to Nigerian operators, but to provide maintenance as well to other operators in the region. They will fly for short distance to bring the aircraft to the facility in Nigeria than to fly six hours to take it to nearest one currently. And with all the issues with visas, cost of hotel accommodation, those are costs that are huge for an operator. So, everybody is looking to optimise the cost and have more efficient lead times on the turnaround of the aircraft,” Kaiafas said.