Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has said after almost 20 years, Nigeria would take delivery of dry lease aircraft on Oct. 6.
He disclosed this at the groundbreaking ceremony of Air Peaces’ maintenance hanger at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, in Lagos.
According to him, the first dry lease will arrive in Nigeria by virtue of Air Peace, after the country was removed from global blacklist, due to the implementation of Cape Town Convention.
He said that what had been obtainable all over Nigeria in the last 20 years were wet leases but noted that confidence had returned to the country’s aviation ecosystem.
The minister said the pressure of servicing wet leases mostly fell on the consumers, resulting in high ticket prices, high maintenance costs and high overheads.
“This is the first time we are going to have a dry lease. Dry lease means that confidence has returned to the Nigerian ecosystem.
“They are giving you your plane. Control it yourself. I wrote a personal guarantee for Air Peace to get that dry lease. I put my life and my reputation on the line,” he said.
Speaking on Air Peaces’ Maintenance, Repair and Overall, MRO, facility, Keyamo said this would save Nigeria foreign exchange and capital flight for aircraft maintenance.
He said: “What this is going to save in terms of FX to this country is incredible. Air Peace alone spends about N180 billion yearly for maintenance, imagine what other airlines are spending.
“Monies that should remain within our jurisdiction went out. That is capital flights, with this facility here, we are going to keep that within Nigeria.
“We are now going to attract people to bring in their money, not only ours, but we are going to attract foreign inflows.
“In the whole of West Africa and Central Africa, there are no good MROs. The good thing is that this facility will accommodate wide bodied aircrafts. You do not have such in the whole of West Africa and Central Africa.’’
Keyamo recalled that President Bola Tinubu’s official visit to Brazil had paid off because Embraer would be partnering Air Peace in providing technical support at the facility.
He noted that ensuring local operators thrived was at the core of his mandate, adding that the federal government would always support local airlines.
The minister added that the MRO facility would be a game changer as there would be a simulator for pilots to cut capital flights and earn foreign exchange.
He, therefore, urged commercial banks to return to the aviation ecosystem, adding that no sector could grow without active support of financial institutions.
He noted that the aviation system had been recalibrated and that banks could finance aircraft acquisition, assuring that they would get their money back.
Keyamo disclosed that he had approved four international routes (Italy, Canada, Paris and Istanbul) for Air Peace but expressed displeasure that local carriers only airlifted about five per cent of international travellers from Nigeria and wished Nigerian carriers could do more.
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