Industry stakeholders have frowned at the reports indicating that one of Nigeria’s major carriers has acquired brand new Airbus A2020, saying that such a claim, which is false, is deceptive and should be discouraged by the regulatory authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Reacting to the claim, the chief operating officer of Air Peace, Toyin Olajide said that the aviation industry in Nigeria and globally is aware that in the past 10 years it is only Air Peace that has acquired brand new aircraft in Nigeria.
Olajide said that it is public knowledge that Air Peace made a firm order for 13 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft and the new aircraft, which Embraer showed the world when it was in the production line has started arriving.
“The first one arrived on January 28, the second came on March 18 and the third one is coming in on June 17, 2021. They are flown directly from the manufacturing facility in San Jose, Brazil. The 13 aircraft we ordered will be brought into the country by the manufacturer, Embraer. I don’t understand the tendency to deceive the public by claiming an aircraft that was leased from another airline is brand new,” the Air Peace COO said.
Amos Akpan, the managing director, Flight and Logistics Solutions, said such claims is condemnable because it is misinforming the public, noting that brand new aircraft usually comes straight from the manufacturing line.
“The only aircraft that have been delivered brand new in recent times is the Embraer E195-E2 delivered by Embraer to Air Peace. People saw when the aircraft was being manufactured in the manufacturing line. In any case, if you take the manufactured serial number (MSN) of the aircraft claimed to be delivered brand new, you will see when it was manufactured, the first airline that received the aircraft and so on,” Akpan said.
In his reaction, the former Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi said such a claim is wrong because it sends bad signals to the industry, noting that the history of the aircraft is public knowledge and there was no need to distort those facts.
“I don’t see the need to claim that aircraft that was leased is brand new. Yes, the aircraft type is new in the market but the one that came into Nigeria is not brand new. It was leased from another airline. So there is no need misinforming the public,” Sanusi said.
