The quest to invest in local content in aviation has been an issue in the sector over the years as expatriates thronged it due to inadequate manpower.
Apart from personnel issue, the problem of maintenance which gulps over 30 percent of an airline revenue, had also eaten into their businesses thereby contributing to the collapse of many airlines.
Hence, Bristow Helicopters, has decided to take the bull by the horn by investing heavily in development and training of Nigerians locally and internationally.
“Government does not get so involved in helicopter operations but in the last two years, we have invested $5 million on an hangar in Port Harcourt where we can conduct all levels of checks. We do not do our maintenance outside Nigeria, we do 100 percent checks on our fleet in Nigeria and majority of our business has been concentrated in Port-Harcourt,” Akin Oni, managing director of the company, said at a news conference in Lagos.
He said it is the most sophisticated hangar in this part of world which is equipped with every amenity that is needed.
“In Port Harcourt, we have extended our passenger handling facility, we now operate four large aircraft being the latest in the helicopter market. Although, one was lost to fire, we’ve seen business moved out of Lagos to Port Harcourt; that is a show of confidence in the Nige-Delta area. We also continue to do business in Eket,” he added.
Oni disclosed that it has partnership with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria where it has recently sent 40 Nigerians for aircraft training.
“Twenty of them have just graduated, we’ve taken six instructors from that college for training in the United States for two months, another four would be sent to Bristow Academy at Florida, we are training to develop capacity in Nigeria. We will continue to support NCAT because we benefit from it. Helicopter training is not available in Nigeria but already, we have 15 Nigerians in training at Bristow Academy.
The Bristow boss, who noted that some of those trained are working for other organisations, said the fact that they are in Nigeria is still a feat for the airline.
“We train and constantly train with at least $250,000 on each trainee but some of them are in other companies, although, our retention in the last two years has been 100 percent. We are also changing and removing expatriates; we have the highest number of Nigerians in the business,” he added.
Oni explained that the airline saves at least $1.5 million by not ferrying an aircraft to another country for maintenance, adding that the company has the capability to do checks in Nigeria with its 31 aircraft.
Speaking on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), he said the bill will when passed into law, open up markets as more oil majors will invest in the oil sector.
On the challenges of the company, he said one of the biggest challenges was that of customs duty on aircraft part importation which was waived by government last year.
He added that with this, there is a 14 percent change in operating cost, adding however that power and infrastructure still remain a challenge.
Sade Williams
