‘Aircraft on Ground’ increases airlines’ woes, passengers’ frustration at airports

• Operators abandon plane repairs over astronomical costs
• NCAA asks carriers to shrink schedules to cope with plane shortage
• Expert seeks special Forex window for operators

The high number of unserviceable aircraft lying waste on the apron of many airports across the country highlights the precarious state of airlines in the country. Many carriers are reeling from the pain of not getting their aircraft back in the sky.

The implication of many airplane on ground or what is generally known in aviation parlance as “Aircraft On Ground’ (AOG) is not only taking the toll on airlines but passengers as well as many of the carriers can no longer cope with their schedules that have continued to leave passengers stranded in many parts of the country.

Aircraft On Ground or AOG is a term in aviation maintenance indicating that a problem is serious enough to prevent an aircraft from flying. This can involve problems as simple as a light bulb being out, or as complex as a damaged engine.

Aircraft maker, Boeing estimates that a 1-2 hour AOG situation will cost an airline from $10,000 to $20,000 and possibly even as high as $150,000 per hour depending on the type of aircraft and route flown.

Airlines suffer significant financial and operational consequences when dealing with AOG situations.

The most hit airline with AOG is Nigeria’s biggest carrier, Air Peace. The carrier is said to have more than 13 airplanes including its wide-body aircraft in its fleet grounded and parked at many of airports.

A visit to many of the country’s airports reveal the high number of airplanes that are not in use from Air Peace to Arik, Aero Contractors, Dana that has gone into extinction, Azman, Max Air among others.

Many of the operators lack the huge financial resources to bring their airplanes back to service as the minimum cost of a repair to B737 airplanes which majority of the airlines operate costs $500, 000.

Those with serious damage or replacement could go as high as $2 million; a situation that has forced Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and concerned experts to call on government to give airlines a special Forex window.

Sources stated that some of Air Peace’s Embraer 195-E2 aircraft acquired less than five years ago are also affected as a result of bird strikes or engine related problems that have left them prostrate on the aprons.

The Embraer E195-E2, powered by Pratt & Whitney’s PW1000G geared turbofan engines, has been facing significant engine issues, leading to disruptions for airlines. Airlines have been seriously affected by a major recall due to manufacturing flaws in critical components.

These issues are primarily related to the engine’s geared turbofan design and have caused some airlines to ground aircraft for inspection and maintenance

The problem has forced Embraer to scale back its 2024 E-Jet delivery expectations due to engine shortages and other supply chain troubles that continue hampering the Brazilian manufacturer’s ability to speed up production.

Sources and aircraft engineers who are familiar with the Embraer 195-E2 situation said some of the airplanes have serious engine problems occasioned by high frequency of bird strikes and other airplanes which engines are not complaint with “Our environment”.

Air Peace’s situation is said to be worse because of its large operations leading to many hours of delays and cancellations that have taken the joy out of air travel and made nonsense of its schedule.

Other carriers are equally witnessing same issue but not on the scale of what Air Peace is currently experiencing at the moment that has taken a long time to resolve, prompting the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to summon the carrier penultimate week, advising it to reduce the destinations it flies to be in tandem with the number of aircraft in its fleet, as a way of reducing flight delays and cancellations.

The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo who warned that NCAA would increase its monitoring of flight operations of all the airlines, assured that it would continue to support them, but they must comply with the regulations and global best practices.

Many of the airlines are cutting their schedules to match their aircraft size and the shrinking patronage by passengers.Ibom Air it is learnt has reduced its to flights to Calabar to two times weekly.

Aviation expert and former General Manager, Public Affairs of defunct Nigeria Airways, Mr. Chris Azu Aligbe told New Telegraph that government urgently need to come to the rescue to save the aviation sector, a major sub sector of the economy.

He said, “The airlines don’t know what they want. They have not been asking for what they want. What they need is access to Forex. Government for instance can say that they are making available $300 million dollars specifically for maintenance and lease rental payment. If they have Naira, they can easily access it. That is what government would do to get the airlines back.”

“There are challenges about paying for maintenance, there are challenges of spare parts. That is what I feel that the Minister can help them in this regard. He needs to take them to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and make allocation for this. Money for maintenance cannot be more than $2 million, $3 million for the biggest aircraft. What they do is to bring the Naira and give them access to Forex. Unless they have access to it, they may not be able to do their maintenance.”

Aligbe stated that none of the airlines is earning dollars in its operation meaningfully, stressing that they are all domestic operators, who also operate West coast.

“Who do they carry on West Coast? It is Nigerians. Even the one going to London; Air Peace, they are carrying Nigerians. There is not enough Forex but may be they have enough Naira to be able to buy Forex but government should be able to help. Aviation is a major sub sector of the economy. We should not allow it to collapse.”

“They have their own problem. NCAA again should look at their schedule and depending on the number of aircraft that is in their operation, they should reduce their schedule to that. Ibom Air has reduced its flights to Calabar. They have only two flights a week. Things are getting off hand. To rescue aviation, they should make Forex available so that they can repair their aircraft”.

Wole Shadare