United Nigeria Airline, Cronos Aviation sign MOU to build aircraft maintenance facility 

… Increase fleet size

United Nigeria Airlines and Cronos Aviation, an international charter airline based in Montreal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to construct an aircraft Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRI) in Nigeria.

This is also as the domestic airline looks to leverage a codeshare agreement with Cronos to expand its operations in the region. The partnership between both aviation firms will see Cronos transfer its technology and help United Nigeria train its crew and technical personnel.

Beyond providing services to United Nigeria Airlines, the MRO is expected to cater for other airlines’ aircraft within and outside Nigeria.

Speaking during the signing of the MOU at the airline’s office in Ikeja, Lagos, Obiora Okonkwo, the chairman of United Nigeria Airline said the choice of Cronos Aviation is driven by its track record and capacity.

“Cronos International has an already existing MRO in South Africa at the O.R Tambo International Airport. They have been operating for more than 13 years with the certification to maintain Embraer aircraft and Boeing 737.

“So we are signing an MRO in partnership with Cronos to set up such services here in Nigeria. As you may know, we do not have MRO capability to do base services in Nigeria,” Okonkwo said.

He explained that apart from aviation fuel, another component that erodes the revenue of airlines is aircraft maintenance, adding that United Airlines’ new partnership with Cronos will help it reduce operating costs, help the nation save its scarce foreign exchange and open up a new door for other aspects of strong participation in aviation.

He noted that there is a high number of Aircraft on the Ground (AOG) resulting from high foreign exchange rates, making it difficult for airlines to carry out their aircraft for periodic maintenance.

He said with the proposed MRO situated in Nigeria, airlines will develop the capacity to be able to attend to technical issues very quickly.

“So this has a multidimensional benefit. Not only to the United Nigeria Airline but also to the entire industry, and the nation in the area of saving foreign exchange, manpower development, technology and know-how transfer. So this is in the area of the MRO. Cronos also has operations going on in some West African countries.

“Cronos comes in and out of the Port Harcourt from time to time. So, this interline and codeshare agreement will help us to put all the infrastructures in place and take all the necessary steps to integrate our services to provide strong regional operations. This will open up our air travel in the region and help commercial activities.

“Interline is very important. It will also enable us to take advantage of the fifth freedom that is going on, which is already in place in the aviation ecosystem here.

Giving a breakdown of how the maintenance facility will reduce capital flight in the aviation sector, Okonkwo said, “For a basic C-check for the least aircraft outside Nigeria, we should be talking about a minimum of half a million US dollars, if there are no major issues discovered in the aircraft.

“Some of these checks are done either on cycles or calendars. But here in Nigeria, the local operators, do more with cycles than calendars because we operate high cycles due to the short distance that we fly. You know that when you talk about cycles if you take off from Lagos and fly 16 hours non-stop to China, it is one cycle.

“If you take off from Abuja and fly 40 minutes to Anambra, it is one cycle. We have to do many cycles to break even on an aircraft due to our sunset and sunrise. We don’t live in a country where you fly for six hours and remain in the same country.

“If you have to fly from Moscow to Siberia, it is about six to seven hours. In Nigeria, we fly short distances. So because of this, our maintenance period comes faster.  So, for an average aircraft in Nigeria to break even within the sunset and sunrise area, it should be doing about six to eight circles.

“If you multiply that six to eight circles and the aircraft works every day without AOG, then you can know that the highest you can clear on a particular C-check might give you about 3,000 hours or 24 calendar months.

“So, if you break down 3,000 hours into circles, it comes very quickly. So, an aircraft in a Nigeria goes out for C-check, within one year or  one and a half. And sometimes, you may even have the money, but you don’t have the slot for maintenance,” the United Airlines chairman explained.

He said currently Nigerian airline operators have more aircraft on the ground than those that are flying. He however assured that the scarcity of aircraft will not affect safety because regulation is tough and the operators are very responsible.

He said if there are easily accessible and available maintenance centres, it will make the turnaround of maintenance very fast, help to train manpower and provide job opportunities.

Speaking on plans to boost its fleet, Okonkwo said between now and the second quarter of next year, United Airlines would acquire six Embraer190 (E190) aircraft.

He said United which just acquired a new E190 aircraft, plans to acquire another aircraft by the first quarter of next year and another two by the second quarter of next year.

“For us, this is a new fleet. We have to develop the capacity, of both the cabin crew, the cockpit crew, and the ground engineering crew. And this is also part of the partnership we have signed.

“As we speak, our first set of cockpit crew are starting their training. And then, when they finish their ground training, they will be flying outside the country for their simulator. The engineering team that is on the ground are already signed to start training with our line engineers on the ground.

“Our cabin crew that will man the E190, which is our new fleet, had completed a greater part of their training, some of them overseas. They have just returned and the continuing part of the training should be line training, while they are flying before they are signed up.

He said this training will earn them not only Nigeria certification as cabin crew but European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification.

“So in United Nigeria, we take training very seriously and a good number of our staff have benefited from that. So, that EASA certification, as you know, is not only operating on Nigerian standard but European standard,” he added.