Nigeria FG Plans To Reduce Minimum Age of 15 Years

 

Following the Dana plane crash at Iju, Ishaga, a suburb in Lagos state, Nigeria; the Federal Government is planning to reduce the minimum age of aircraft operating in Nigeria from 18 to 15 years.

Chief Executive Officer, Aero-contractors Airlines, Captain Akin George said this will force airline to pay 83 per cent more on leased planes.

He said this while addressing a news conference at the airline’s office in Ikeja.

The new age policy proposed by the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, would compel airlines to pay a minimum of $220,000 monthly as lease rentals on 15-year-old planes, compared to $120,000 currently being paid on 18-year-old planes.

George explained that the reason for the huge difference in monthly rentals. He said this is because younger planes of 15 years were currently scarce globally.

“Lease rentals are definitely strong at this time and not just because of being in Nigeria. When you want to go into younger aircraft of 150-seats capacity, they are quite difficult to find at this point in time. So if we are even looking at what they call medium age of Boeing 737 planes that is 15 years old, we are still looking at the lease rentals of definitely not less than $220,000 or $230, 000 in a month. But for the new generation (aircraft that are far younger than 15 years), they are in higher demand. And that is what the minister says she wants to push us into.”

 George also noted that passengers at the domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport had dropped following the June 3 Dana plane crash in Lagos, with a resultant loss in revenue by airlines.

“The total number of people flying in Nigeria has dropped. We are not making money now, even though some airlines have been grounded. The amount of money we earn has also dropped. We are calling on Nigerians to continue flying and have faith in the industry.”