The long plan by the federal government to establish aircraft leasing company and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility may have gotten a headway as the federal government has established a process towards the realisation of the two projects.
Having a leasing company and a maintenance organisation would enable Nigerian airlines maintain their aircraft locally and at relatively low cost and also have easy access to securing aircraft from the planned leasing company, as experts pointed out that with the two organisations in place, indigenous airlines going under due to their inability to acquire airplanes or due to high cost of overseas maintenance would become a thing of the past.
These are the key factors that prompted the federal government to make a firm move towards fulfilling its promise to ease airlines the burden of leasing aircraft from international lessors at outrageous cost.
The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika who announced this, said the leasing company and MRO facility are the two major components of the aviation sector roadmap of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
A statement from the Ministry of Aviation, signed by the Director of Public affairs, James Odaudu, said at the end of the conferences, one company, a consortium of A. J. Walters/Glovesly/Egypt Air was shortlisted out of three for the aviation leasing companies that bidded.
“For the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility, two companies namely; A.J. Walters/Glovesly/Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines were shortlisted out of seven that expressed interest,” the statement said.
Declaring the Conferences open, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics and Chairman of the Project Delivery Team, Alhaji Muhammad Shehu said the event marked another phase of the government’s determination to ensure the realisation of the projects.
