By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja – Mr Isaac Balami, President, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), has called on the Federal Government to provide an intervention fund to enable domestic airlines to acquire aircraft.
Balami made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He claimed that the previous intervention fund did not serve the intended purpose because airlines were already indebted to the banks, which made them (banks) to withhold the funds.
According to him, the intervention fund was meant to rescue the banks and not the airlines as was expected, and that was why the airlines could not acquire aircraft to operate with.
“We believe that this time around, we will get genuine intervention because what the airlines need is not intervention on paper but genuine intervention.
“I think that the minister has waded into the matter and he is going to hear from the real stakeholders like us; then we will tell him the truth.
“For example, Aero needs aircraft, Arik needs to have access to dollars and other airlines also need to access dollars.
“If other sectors of the economy or individuals in the country can have access to dollars, why can’t aviation do same?’’ he queried.
Balami also urged the Federal Government to give priority attention to the aviation sector by addressing all the issues surrounding the inability of domestic airlines to operate profitably.
He argued that if the sector was properly positioned, it would play a major role in bringing the country out of its present condition.
NAAPE President explained that the difficulty faced by domestic airlines in carrying out major checks and repairs on their aircraft was occasioned by non-availability of hangars in the country.
He, however, said that some companies were currently making effort to establish hangars.
“The major problem is that we don’t have a national hangar where we can carry out the C-check in the country except now that some of us are trying to come up with it.
“We have one or two companies coming up with hangars in the next few weeks or months.
“ I believe that that would take care of the problem because billions of dollars are being spent annually in carrying out C-checks overseas and that is not sustainable.
“Also, if those checks can be done locally, we will be able to create more jobs,’’ he said.
On the suspension of operation by Aero Contractors, Balami said that the airline currently had about five aircraft overseas for C-check, with each costing not less than 1.5 million dollars.
He added that if the management could not afford to buy 1.5 million dollars from the black market, the company’s operation had to stop, pending when the forex crises were resolved.
“We want to let the public know that we care about their safety first and that if it is not safe, we cannot fly.
“The point is that it must be safe before we can operate effectively and efficiently,’’ he said.
