Resolving Aircraft Maintenance Problems For Local Airlines

Recently Aero Contractors made history in the nation’s aviation industry, as it successfully conducted a major check in one of its aircraft. The airline took a bold step by conducting a C-check on one of its Boeing 737-500 aircraft successfully at its facility at the Lagos Airport by its in house aircraft engineers. The C-Check maintenance was well celebrated by stakeholders in the industry as it happened more than 15 years after a similar check was conducted by the liquidated Nigeria Airways. A C-check is a detailed maintenance check where the entire component of an aircraft is inspected for the purpose of repair and maintenance and can take up to three weeks to conduct.

With the maintenance cost of about $2 million to $3 million approximately depending on aircraft type and condition for a Boeing aircraft, it is expected that about 30 Boeing aircraft operating in the country would gulp over $90 million for each C-Check undertaken.

With the establishment of Aero Contractors maintenance facility, industry analysts have said that it will save the local airlines huge sums of money they spend in taking their aircraft abroad for maintenance that is if they decide to do the C- checks in Nigeria instead of ferrying their aircrafts abroad.

Speaking on the successful roll out of Aero’s Boeing 737-500 which underwent the C-Check in their Nigerian facility, Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika said the new initiative will enable Nigeria to save huge sums of money hitherto, spent in doing C-Checks overseas by Nigeria’s indigenous airlines. Sirika said “Nigeria experiences huge capital flight of nothing less than $1.8m and $3m per Boeing aircraft that left our shores for C-Checks and there are more than 30 of such aircraft operating in the country.

The Minister described Aero’s achievement as phenomenal and significant, adding that it would be for the benefit of all Nigerian airlines and even others in the West African region which analysts said spent over $1 billion in the maintenance of their aircraft abroad annually.

With this development, the airline which was taken over by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in 2016 has developed a sustainable strategy for its survival. To ensure that service are not limited to Boeing 737-500 classics alone, the airline had signed a partnership agreement with AJW Group, a market leader in the global management of aircraft spares, to assist the airline in the restructuring and upgrading of its Maintenance Repair and Overhaul, MRO, support services.

Capt. Ado Sanusi, CEO of Aero Contractors, said: “We are very excited to work with AJW Group on this project and feel that it will have a marked effect on our operations going forward. Having been in the business for 58 years, I am confident we have found the right partner to work with”.

According to the partnership, AJW Group will be supporting Aero Contractors with the upgrade of its MRO services to C-check capabilities for Boeing 737 Classic aircraft. The enhancement of its MRO capabilities will ensure that maintenance is carried out to a very high standard, thus providing added quality assurance to their customers. In addition to their own fleet, Aero Contractors will be able to extend these services to third party operators both in-country and within region.