September 14, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has commended the management of Air Peace for their 10 aircraft order milestone achieved on Thursday.
Air Peace had, on Thursday, at the ongoing 7th Aviation Africa Summit at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, made an order of 10 aircraft (5 orders and 5 firm orders), all comprising Embraer 175 aircraft type.
Similarly, Overland Airways equally made an order of three Embraer 175 aircraft at the Summit.
A firm order is when a deposit is put down in the deal. However, conditions still exist that allow the buyer to back out. If the buyer or the manufacturer happens to back out, then there are usually penalties. This is different from a Letter of Intent (LoI) and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Commending the airline shortly after the order, Keyamo said, “Well, the first event, as you could see, was that one of our local operators, Air Peace, signed an agreement with their partners to bring in more brand new planes to Nigeria. I made the point that I am not just here to support one airline, I am here to support our local initiatives generally. So, any other local airline that achieves any milestone, I will always be there to support them. I also made the point that I am doing that because one of my KPIs would be the support for the growth and survival of our local airlines/local operators.”
Advising the airlines to maintain the highest international standards for the benefit of Nigerians, the Minister said, “At the end of the day, while we support them, they must also have a reciprocal duty to the Nigerian people to ensure that the safety and the comfort of Nigerians are prioritised by them. So, that is why I am here today and I have also rolled out all my other KPIs while I am in office. I have set those standards for myself. And that is one; I said that enforcement of safety standards by the relevant agencies will be a top priority for me.”
According to Keyamo, the second planned project is the development of aviation infrastructure throughout Nigeria.
Explaining further, he said “One of the deliverables under that is that I would like world-class MROs to be established in Nigeria. We spend a lot of foreign currency taking our planes out every time to go and line up in foreign facilities to get these MROs done. And that takes a lot of our foreign currency away.”
Clarifying issues on the recent South African agreement, Keyamo said, “For the South African agreement, I also said that it is an immediate deliverable for me under the indicator of ensuring enforcement of the highest standards within our shores. South Africa is doing 92 percent by ICAO, we are doing 70 percent.
“So, our agreement today is that we are signing an agreement with a bigger brother in terms of safety standards in Africa and we are proud to do so because sharing intelligence with the corporation and all that means that somebody is lifting us somewhere. It is going to be a symbiotic relationship. There are areas we are also going to assist them too in terms of safety standards because we also have our strong points within Nigeria and that is what we did today.”
Keyamo emphasised the fact that Mr. President is very concerned about the airlines’ trapped funds in Nigeria, adding that “in fact, it is one of the issues we went to discuss in the UAE. I spoke with the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and he has given an indication that within the next few weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria will be very clear as to the programme within which these issues will be addressed.
“They will be paid off. These are not loans, they are trapped funds, they are funds that are there, it is only the issue of liquidity that is our problem. And the issues of liquidity are being addressed as I speak right now. It is something that the President is very concerned about, and that issue, I said that we have addressed it in the UAE and very soon, you will hear from the financial sector.”
On when Emirate Airlines and other airlines from Dubai will resume operations in Nigeria, Keyamo said, “We are working the details out. When two countries agree at the very top level then of course all the government operatives will begin to work out the tiny details.
“So, we are beginning to work out all the tiny details. I met with Emirate before I left UAE, I met with Etihad before I left UAE and we are working out the details. The time frame, we cannot say the time frame. Kicking off an airline operation again on a route, it is not that you will go and grab one empty plane sitting in a place.
“There is no idle plane sitting anywhere, they have to reschedule their flights, restart their routes again, all kinds of things. All kinds of permission will be taken from local authorities and, of course, I made the point in speaking with them and I made it clear that they will have to give our airlines reciprocal rights under our BASAs. That is the point I insisted on, and they did say that any spot we need, they will give us as much as we give them those spots within Nigeria,” the Minister said.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
