UPDATE: AIRLINES PROTEST N’ASSEMBLY’S KNOCKS OVER OLD AIRCRAFT
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The Senate Committee Chairman on Aviation, Senator Fatai Buhari, has raised the alarm that Nigeria’s aviation industry is bloated by old aircraft against the practice in developed nations.
However, operators, regulators, and other stakeholders dismissed the claim, arguing that the age of an aircraft does not matter; rather, the maintenance of airplanes should be given priority.
The senator spoke in Lagos during a stakeholders’ engagement of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development.
At the event, stakeholders deliberated on issues bordering on ground handling companies in the sector, airline operators, unruly passengers, etc.
Buhari called on the sector’s handlers to be patriotic in the discharge of their duties, emphasising the need to prioritise Nigerians above personal interest.
“We are over-bloated with old aircraft, and that is the truth. When we are abroad and you are in an aircraft, you won’t even know that the aircraft is working, but immediately you enter any of our aircraft in Nigeria, you will either start reading the book of Psalms or the Holy Quran,” Buhari stated.
Responding, the acting Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Chris Najomo, countered the senator. He said maintenance is the key thing for any aircraft and not necessarily the age of the airplane.
He further stated that the age of an aircraft matters less in aviation, but maintenance should be done as scheduled. He said a new plane had crashed in the past, while the ones tagged as old were being used due to adequate maintenance.
“How sound an aircraft is is not measured by its age but rather by the level of maintenance the aircraft gets. Maintenance is key, and surveillance on our part is important. What the minister has done with Cape Town Convention Practice is to get airlines to have access to newer equipment,” Najomo said.
The Vice President of the Airlines Operators of Nigeria and Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said Nigeria has one of the youngest fleets in the world.
He mentioned that while some foreign airlines parade aged aircraft, they clean and present the same as a new aircraft, causing passengers to think they are newer than Nigerian domestic aircraft.
Onyema said, “Nigeria has one of the youngest fleets in the world. America, if you go there, you see all those Ghana planes, those MD83 planes. Some American airlines are using planes that are almost 40-something years old.
“So when you go to America, the difference between us and them is that when you enter their aircraft, you see a 50-year-old aircraft flying, and it’s so neat. You will think that the aircraft was purchased yesterday. But I will tell you what, those aircraft are old. Yes, we have very young aircraft in our fleet here.”
On his part, the Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, said the senator called her attention to the need for internet installation within the entire passenger area of the airport.
Earlier during the event, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said his administration would do everything necessary to aid local airlines’ capacity and promote local content.
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