Aero set to fly again… 2 months after flight suspension

Two months after it suspended flight operation, Aero Contractors may soon fly again.

According to its management of one of West Africa’s oldest aviation companies, the airline would resume commercial services as soon as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) completes its audit.

On 18 July, Aero Contractors said it would temporarily suspend scheduled passenger services, blaming the development on “the impact of the challenging operating environment on our daily operations”. Its fleet had been depleted and therefore unable to run scheduled commercial services.

The airline said it is hopeful that the process would be completed by the end of this month so that it can commence its service by October.

As part of measures to resume, however, the airline said it has signed a partnership agreement with the Chairman of Umza Aviation Services, Hon. Mohammed Abubakar.

Almost $50 million is said to be invested in the purchase of five aircraft that will be operated by Aero Contractors.

With the five aircraft, the airline will have nine aircraft to resume its commercial operation.

After taking delivery of the second Dash-8 (Q-400) aircraft at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt. Abdullahi Mahmoud affirmed the readiness of the airline to resume.

Mahmoud, who was represented by Head of Security, Adah Daniel, said: “Commercial-wise, we are looking at end of the month because we wrote to the NCAA that we want to start operation and we have to finish with the ongoing audit.

“So, once we are through with the NCAA audit process and we are cleared, we will commence immediately. It could be earlier and it could be early next month but it depends on the audit. However, we are confident that the audit will end this month because we have already started.

“So, they will be coming in to do the final paperwork and once that is done, we are good to go”.

On the capacity of the aircraft, Mahmoud said: “It is a 75-seater aircraft. It is also one of the safest aircraft because you hardly hear of crashes, it has short landing and short takeoff, so it is very good even during emergencies. Nigerians should expect efficient, prompt and reliable service. The aircraft is very dependable, it has fuel efficiency and its capacity is 75.

“So with this, we hope to meet aviation demand in terms of passengers and also cost because we have noticed that cost is a concern for a lot of travelling passengers.

“So, we believe when we operate a fuel-efficient aircraft, we will be able to fly passengers with a reasonable fare.”

“Once you have more aircraft, it gives the passengers leverage for a lower fare but once you have a few aircraft with so much demand, then the price will go up”.

On when the remaining aircraft will be delivered, Mahmoud said: “For now, it is still in process and the problem is the projections. Sometimes you might project in two weeks but because of one or two delays, it might extend but we hope that before next month, we should be able to have all five deliveries but with these two, we can kick start with the other ones we have in our Lagos office. We have about four, so I think with six aircraft, we should be able to commence operation”.

On how much was invested, Mahmoud said: “It is a lot of money. Almost $50 million was invested in the purchase of the five aircraft. The aircraft are not on lease, it is an outright purchase. None of them is on lease.

“This is a risk worth taking. In a couple of weeks, we will start operating based on our agreement with Aero while we are processing our AOC”.