Nigeria, Africa to reap from $150bn airplane investments

• Country requires urgent fleet renewal

Nigeria and many other countries are expected to benefit from the $150 billion investment in 1,000 aircraft acquisition in the next 20 years, according to participants at the just-ended Africa aviation summit in Kigali, Rwanda. President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, said the huge investment would provide enormous growth to the continent’s aviation industry. The fourth edition of the Aviation Africa Summit & Exhibition saw over 800 delegates from 71 countries converge on the Kigali Convention Center.

The audience included government ministers, air chiefs of staff and directors-general of civil aviation authorities, with representatives from 35 African nations. Analysing the development while speaking with Woleshadarenews, former Assistant Secretary, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mohammed Tukur said this means there will be many more high-quality jobs for Nigerian and African pilots, engineers, and service personnel, to operate and maintain this equipment professionally, and above all, safely.

Tukur disclosed that Nigeria would need over 50 airplanes in the next 15 years to replace fuel guzzling geriatric aircraft if they are to compete with their counterparts, which are migrating to fuel-efficient and cost-effective airplanes. Other African countries such as Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ghana, Congo and South Africa could see their aircraft purchase or phasing out their older airplanes for more efficient ones, which would be in the region of $100 billion within the same period. New technology aircraft according to stakeholders, will generate fewer maintenance events – in the short-to-medium term.

Tukur however, stated that the acquisition depends on whether the aircraft that would be purchased by the carriers would be straight from the factory, which he claimed many of the operators do not have the finance to acquire.

He stated that definitely, operators who do not have the funds would acquire relatively newer and fuel efficient airplanes to replace many aircraft, adding that a brand new airplane costs between $45million and $50 million, bringing the total cost to $2.5 billion. Within the period, many of the operators could migrate to smaller jets, as many of them are set to review their business model, which expert said has affected their operations and confined them to short lifespan. Also, Aviation consultant and former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd), said the sector would require fleet renewal by airlines, adding that over $ 2.5 billion would be needed for the venture.

Aircraft giant, Airbus had earlier forecast that airlines in sub-Saharan Africa would require over 528 new passenger aircraft by 2030, with a value of $65 billion to cater for traffic growth and replace older aircraft. On the other hand, Airbus’ stiffest competitor, Boeing predicts that Africa as a whole will require 800 new aircraft between 2011 and 2030 worth $100 billion.

Ojikutu, however, stated that it is too ambitious for Boeing or Airbus to be thinking that African countries would need $166 billion worth of aircraft. His words: “A quick calculation of that is that brand new aircraft cost about $80million and not $50 million.

The continent’s airlines’ would need about 1, 250 of such airplanes, average of about 60 for each of the earlier 15 countries or about 20 for each member states of Africa Union. It is too ambitious for the aircraft manufacturers to contemplate.” Nigerian operators are faced with finance challenges, which compel them to get geriatric planes from the graveyard in many countries of the world.

The average age of planes in the fleet of many Nigerian airlines is between 19 and 22 years. Some are even over 25 years. The age of aircraft does not matter as long as airlines carry out periodic checks on their equipment.

The only snag with aged airplanes is their frequent maintenance costs and they are considered as fuel guzzlers. Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Arik, was the pride of the country’s aviation industry when it showed commitment in doing things differently in the aviation sector by acquiring over 20 aircraft; some of the ‘tear rubber’ like the airline prided itself then.

The airline was the toast of travellers and the corporate world. Most of the aircraft they operate are classics, whose fuel consumption is very high. Fuel constitutes 30 per cent of cost to airlines.

Wole Shadare