Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), said after almost 20 years, Nigeria will take delivery of dry lease aircraft on October 6.

Mr Keyamo made the disclosure at the groundbreaking ceremony of Air Peace’s maintenance hangar at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

According to Mr Keyamo, the first dry lease will arrive in Nigeria by virtue of Air Peace after Nigeria was removed from the blacklist globally, owing to the implementation of the Cape Town Convention.

He said that what had been obtainable all over Nigeria in the last 20 years were all wet leases but confidence had returned to the Nigerian aviation ecosystem.

According to Mr Keyamo, the pressure of servicing wet leases mostly fell on the consumers, resulting in high ticket prices, high maintenance costs and high overheads.

He stated, “This is the first time we are going to have a dry lease. ‘Dry lease’ means that confidence has returned to the Nigerian ecosystem. They are giving you your plane. Control it yourself. I wrote a personal guarantee for Air Peace to get that dry lease. I put my life and my reputation on the line.’’

Speaking on Air Peace’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, Mr Keyamo said that this would save Nigeria foreign exchange and capital flight for aircraft maintenance.

He stated, “What this is going to save in terms of FX for this country is incredible. Air Peace alone spends about N180 billion yearly for maintenance; imagine what other airlines are spending. Monies that should remain within our jurisdiction went out. That is capital flight; with this facility here, we are going to keep that within Nigeria. We are now going to attract people to bring in their money, not only ours, but we are also going to attract foreign inflows.

“In the whole of West Africa and Central Africa, there are no good MROs. The good thing is that this facility will accommodate wide-bodied aircraft. You do not have such in the whole of West Africa and Central Africa.’’

He recalled that President Bola Tinubu’s official visit to Brazil paid off because Embraer would be partnering Air Peace in providing technical support at the facility.

Mr Keyamo noted that ensuring local operators thrived was central to his mandate, adding that the federal government would always support local airlines.

He also added that the MRO facility would be a game changer, as there would be a stimulator for pilots to cut capital flights and earn foreign exchange.

The minister, therefore, urged commercial banks to  return to the aviation ecosystem, adding that no sector could grow without the active support of the financial institutions.

He noted that the aviation system had been recalibrated and banks could finance aircraft acquisition, assuring that they would recoup their money.

Mr Keyamo disclosed that he approved four international routes (Italy, Canada, Paris and Istanbul)  for Air Peace.

The minister expressed displeasure that local carriers only airlifted about five per cent of international travellers from Nigeria and wished Nigerian carriers could do more.

 (NAN)