A significant reduction in the number of available aircrafts is driving a number of pilots and engineers out of jobs, BusinessDay has found.
“If you look at it critically, Arik Air used to have 32 aircraft and now it has less than 12 aircraft flying. Aero used to have 17 aircraft with 12 Boeing 737 alone flying and now they are struggling with two aircraft. When Medview came into the business, they had over six aircraft but they are currently struggling with two aircraft.
“First Nation, IRS and Chachangi are down. AirPeace is the only airline that has increased drastically. The fleet increment in AirPeace cannot compensate for the reduction in the fleet of Aero, Arik and other airlines. They can only complement,” Isaac Balami, former president of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) told BusinessDay.
Balami explained that while this sad development has made young pilots unemployed, other pilots with years of experience are currently flying in other countries including Europe, Middle East and United States of America.
Documents obtained from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), put the total number of licenced pilots in Nigeria at 2,226 in 2016. Although this number has increased to 2,356 in 2017, the number of licenced active Nigeria pilots has reduced from over 1,700 three years ago to below 1, 300 active Nigerian pilots.
In the same vein, the numbers of aircraft maintenance engineers have reduced from 1,532 in 2016 to 1,484 in 2017.
Gbenga Olowo, President of Aviation Round Table (ART), observed recently there has been continuous depletion of the fleet of Nigerian airlines.
Olowo recalled that in 2010, Nigerian airlines had 54 commercial operating aircraft but by 2013 the fleet had reduced to 39, noting that with declining fleet size, route expansion would be limited and this will affect the number of pilots and engineers that can be employed by the airline.
BusinessDay’s checks show that as a result of the difficult economic environment, last two years, Aero Contractors sacked over 100 staff, United Airlines and Iberia Airlines dismissed not less than 30 Nigeria staff when the airline closed shop last year, and Virgin Atlantic also sacked 20 Nigerian staff.
Experts say despite the loss of jobs, aviation schools across Nigeria are still churning out as many 750 personnel yearly.
The five Civil Aviation Training institutions in Nigeria include the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, the International Aviation College, (IAC), Ilorin, International Helicopter Flying School, Enugu, Landover Aviation Training School, Ikeja and Aeroconsult Training School, Ikeja.
BusinessDay’s findings show that NCAT, which is the biggest aviation school in Nigeria, graduates an average of 500 trained personnel yearly, followed by IAC Ilorin, which produces between 60 and 80 pilots yearly. Other schools produce between 150 and 200 trained personnel yearly.
Chris Iwarah, Corporate Communications Manager, Air Peace Limited told BusinessDay that pilots seeking employment troop to AirPeace every day and some apply through the company’s communication channels.
“We also do our best to employ a lot of them. This week, the ones we have employed and started induction are about 40. We cannot employ all of them. The training of a pilot is rigorous and it takes a lot of time. When they come from NCAT, we will still need to train them because they need to have their ratings. We sponsor some of their trainings to be able to fly our aircraft. It takes a lot of process and it’s not cheap,” Iwarah added.
John Ojikutu, former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) told BusinessDay that as a result of the current challenges, the industry is no longer attractive for students and investors, as the schools now lack funds and even skilled manpower to meet industry standards.
“There was a time when government was training pilots, engineers, ATCOs for the industry but following the demise of the Nigerian Airways, the training stopped.
“Now, most Nigerian pilots have aged and the private airlines operators are very unwilling to train but prefer to employ foreign pilots and engineers,” Ojikutu added.
