Some relief may finally be coming the way of Nigerian airlines, as giant aircraft manufacturer, Boeing and Nigeria’s Ministry of Aviation broker an 8-point Programme of Action expected to transform the sector, especially the lot of the airlines.
The deal was brokered with a team of Nigerian officials on the Investors’ Roadshow to the United States, led by Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah and top management of Boeing Corporation of USA.
Under the programme, will play a major role in the establishment of Maintenance and Repair Organisations (MROs) in the country, establishment of Boeing Training Hub in Nigeria, carry out technical assessment of all aircraft operated by domestic airlines in the country, fleet renewal and acquisition programme for the airlines, and develop an aviation database for the country.
The deal is expected to ensure the repositioning of Nigeria’s aviation sector as the reference point on all aviation matters in Africa, through a systematic approach that will enhance and sustain the nation’s safety record, develop the local industry as the hub on the continent and structure it as a major engine of growth for the nation’s economy.
The scope of the deal also covers the development of an Integrated Air Navigation System (based on PBN), Optimisation System Support for airports and airlines, as well as assessing existing spare parts and material marts in Nigeria, with a view to proposing a business partnership case for the establishment of an integrated spare parts super market in the country.
Under the technical assessment of aircraft operated by the domestic airlines programme, the action plan indicates that Boeing will assess the technical and operational conditions of all aircraft operated in the country and advise the ministry on measures that will ensure sustainable safety in the nation’s airspace. This includes a comprehensive assessment of the mechanical, technical, electrical, avionics and other components of all commercial aircraft, through physical inspection of the aircraft, and reporting of findings.
Boeing is also to provide a diagnostic kit for Early Warning Systems (EWS) on the physical and operational conditions of domestic carriers, and provide a check list for mitigating systems collapse. It will also assess the existing fleet capacity of domestic carriers and propose an appropriate model for fleet acquisition, management and renewal.
On the MROs, Boeing is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of all existing MRO platforms in Nigeria and report on their capacities in relation to all classes of mandatory maintenance checks, propose partnership models for the establishment of an integrated MRO platform for mandatory checks, up to C-Checks, and advise on infrastructural and operational requirements, to mitigate short-comings.
In order to achieve the ambition of making Nigeria a training hub on the continent and enhancing the capacity of the industry in the country, Boeing is to carry out an assessment of training facilities and operational capacity of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, the capacity gaps in all its programmes, its operational capacity in relation to all categories of training requirements for all classes of airline services in Nigeria, and propose appropriate training curricula to be adopted by NCAT for all categories of training, amongst others.
Boeing, whose team was led by Lawrence Polliver, Director of Sales (Africa) expressed satisfaction with the ministry’s roadmap for the revival of the aviation industry in Nigeria, and declared its readiness to collaborate on the 8-point programme of action for repositioning the sector as the aviation hub on the continent.
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