Airline operators seek review of 18-month mandatory timeline for aircraft maintenance

Moved by the heavy amount of money being spent on aircraft maintenance in Nigeria since there is no major hangar, airline operators on Monday, called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to revise the mandatory 18 months timeline given operators to carry out C- check  on all aircraft flying in the country .

C- check is the third category of major maintenance carried on aircraft every 18 months whether the plane was flown or not .

It is different from line maintenance checks carried out on the aircraft either every months or after some flying hours .

The C and D checks are the heaviest checvks which take a lot opf money in foreign currencies from the airlines because they have to ferry them abroad.

One of them, Allen Onyema, Chairman of Air Peace said the NCAA,  in the place of the 18 – months maintenance,  should adopt the 4,000 flying hours timeline obtainable in the United States .

He said the US Federal Aviation Administration requires major aircraft to go for C- check after they have flown about 4,000 hours .

The airline’s  boss said a situation in which  an aircraft if forced by the NCAA to undergo C- check every 18 months even if it has not been flying , was making both scheduled and charter operators lose hundreds of millions of dollars .

For instance, he said his company spend not less than $ 500,000 per aircraft anytime the plane is taken overseas for heavy maintenance .

With an estimated 300 aircraft (scheduled and non-scheduled),  airlines  operating in Nigeria the industry will be losing over $ 150 million every 18 months for C- check at aircraft maintenance centres overseas .

“ This regulation is too strict. In America it is 4,000 flying hours . America is the owner of civil aviation and they are utilising the four thousand hours regulation before an aircraft can go for C- check . But, Nigerian Civil Aviation rule says 18 months.

“While the American model is preferable is because you could attain 4,000 flying hours in about two or three years .This is not good , it is capital drain on the country . Every 18 months you have to fly your aircraft abroad for C – check . It is huge expenditure for airlines . Imagine the number of planes in the fleet of Arik , Aero , Air Peace, Medview , AZMAN , Discovery, Overland , DANA Air. . Every 18 months Nigeria loses several millions of dollars to other countries for aircraft maintenance .

“We are loosing this huge sums because we do not have the infrastructure locally to carry out major repairs on aircraft ”, he said.

Another operator and travel consultant,  Chris Adejumo, said the importance of a national hangar in Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised adding that it was high time Nigeria began  to play host to other countries for repairs.

Sade Williams