With the cost of aircraft maintenance for Nigerian airlines overseas increasingly becoming more expensive, Nigeria’s Air Peace has plans to set up its own Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in the long run in the face of inadequacy, reports CH-Aviation.
Nigerian industry experts estimate that air operators would have saved 35 percent of the cost of aircraft maintenance if the facility were located in the country, as Air Peace undergoes heavy maintenance for its aircraft in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.
“This is something we are considering in long-haul but not in the immediate,” says Air Peace spokesperson, Stanley Olisa. He also pointed out that the main challenges impeding local MRO operations include high operating costs and inadequate technical manpower.
According to aviation investment expert and Managing Partner, TMSS Logistics, Alhaji Nuhu Adam, says that the need to have free zone for such facilities at the Lagos airport is crucial if domestic airlines must grow and if Nigeria must benefit from the air transport sector, reports THISDAY.
The plethora of pressures and emerging risks is pushing and beginning to convince African Airlines that it may be time to get into the game, even as there are fewer MRO providers in the continent that is hampered with emerging new airline technologies.
The African continent MRO providers include South African Airways Technical (SAAT), Ethiopian Airlines Maintenance and Engineering, Kenya Airways Technical, Air Algerie Technics and Tunisair Technics.
by Victor Shalton Odhiambo
