N30bn abandoned aircraft rot away
Although the figures are not officially out, the owners of the abandoned aircraft in Nigeria airports could be losing over N30 billion with their inability of not knowing that the abandoned aircraft parts could be resold or converted to other uses, Woleshadare.net has learnt.
Former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu, said the economic value of the parts of the aircraft could well be around N30 billion, considering what the conversion of the airplanes to restaurants, hotels and other entertainment centres could do to rev up business around the airports and environs.
He said: “In most countries, these disused airplanes have great economic value. The engines can be sold, parts can also be smelted and, above all, converting them to restaurants.
There are no decent restaurants around the airports. Individuals can take advantage of this to bring business to the area and other businesses will positively be affected. “You can’t quantify the benefits and I am sure we are losing so much in the region of several billions of naira.”
Similarly, former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun, said the aircraft have huge economic value because of the ability to convert them to hotels, restaurants and children’s game house.
His words: “For the fact that you are inside the air-frame of an aircraft is a very great experience for many people. Aircraft frames and other parts have good economic value and that is what the owners are yet to realise because of the sentiments they attach to the equipment.
“For instance, HAK Air and aircraft operated by a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) have been sitting on the tarmac for more than seven years.
The point is, we need to have media education with the owners and to intimate them of the economic value of their assets than allowing them to rot away. Times have changed.
Most of the aircraft are no longer in use like the Boeing classics, DC-9, BAK 1-11 and the rest. There are people all over the world looking for disused aircraft to buy. All they need to do is advertise them for buyers to come and pick them.”
The engines and avionics are the priced assets of aircraft that are no longer serviceable while the fuselage can also be used for hospitality purposes. The aluminium frames can be converted to cutleries and other important metal works.
Examples are replete in many parts of the world where disused aircraft frame or fuselage were converted to restaurants or hotels.
The buyers pay heavily for this equipment because of the huge commercial purposes they can be turned into. But in Nigeria, that economic idea seems to be lacking.
The amount of money airlines invest into their aircraft is mind-boggling. A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner sells for $265 million. Current list price of a new Airbus A380 is $432.6 million. Emirates has over 75 Airbus A380s in its fleet, with more on order.
By contrast, the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, cost $1.35 billion to build, about the same as three A380s.
Not a few believe that the most profitable option for an airline looking to retire some of its fleet is selling the aircraft intact to another airline when these aircraft reach their use-by date.
In Europe, where space is at a premium and there is nowhere to store aircraft outside in a stable, weatherproof environment, planes tend to be recycled and broken up far more quickly.
After all the valuable components have been removed, whatever remains will be chopped into pieces and sold for scrap. The source said that the La Tante Restaurant DC-10 in Ghana sits right opposite the Marina Shopping Mall at the airport in Accra.
The 118-seat capacity, fully air-conditioned La Tante DC-10 is built out of a refurbished abandoned DC-10 aircraft belonging to the country’s defunct national carrier, Ghana Airways. At least, 13 airplanes abandoned at the Lagos airport, which have continued to cause nuisance to safety and security across Nigeria, are being taken away to ‘graveyard’ waiting to be dismantled.
Attempts by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to get the aircraft out of the Lagos airport and others few years ago were met with stiff resistance from the owners who got court ruling that restrained FAAN from moving them while a few were moved to the ‘graveyard’.
The dismantling of these disused aircraft by the FAAN could cause the agency so much as the useful parts can only be sold as scraps. Aside the environmental and safety danger they cause to the users of the airports, the agency has repeatedly told owners of the jets to come and remove them from the tarmac of the aerodromes across the country.
This action underlines some measures taken by FAAN to rid the airports, particularly the Lagos airport, of anything that may cause disruption to safe flight operations. Disused planes range from small jets to a Boeing 747.
Some of them are abandoned on the apron; a situation that portends danger to travellers. Spokeswoman for FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, told our correspondent that the abandoned aircraft were to be taken to the ‘graveyard’ until the owners are ready to either take them away or dismantle them for other purposes.
As at last September, there were 30 disused airplanes scattered around the country’s aerodromes with many of them abandoned for over 25 years ago.
A document obtained from one of the agencies shows that the abandoned aircraft belong to Aero, Chanchangi, Arik, Hak (that came with many aircraft but never flew), Dana, Savannah, Harco, Albarka, IRS, Nicon, ADC, and a host of many others, including private jets.
