The Acting Director-Gen
eral, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Benedict Adeyileka, said more than 60 per cent of the aircraft operated by Nigerian airlines were on lease.
Mr Adeyileka spoke in Lagos through NCAA’s General Manager Air worthiness and Standard, Mr Kayode Ajiboye, at a seminar organised by Aeroconsult with the theme, sustaining safety in the Nigerian Aviation sector” said most airlines preferred aircraft lease financing to reduce their operational cost.
He noted that Nigerian financial institutions also preferred to support business aviation at the expense of commercial aviation.
According to financial institutions, their argument is that business aviation has less risk when compared to commercial aviation, noting that one of the major challenges for airlines in the country was that lease rates were paid in US dollars while passengers fare were in naira.
The NCAA boss, advised airline operators to adopt a merger plan to sustain safety standards in the aviation industry, pointing out when airlines operating two or three aircraft merge the level of safety will be better sustained, and urged them to work as partners by embracing code sharing and interlining.
He said that airlines should embrace the safety culture that comes with the Safety Management System (SMS) and avoid cutting corners in critical safety areas.
“Following the introduction of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 19, NCAA is currently developing the regulatory requirement for safety management system for all service providers,” he said.
The NCAA boss said that exchange of safety critical information between the authority and service providers was another way of sustaining safety in the sector.
Also speaking, Mr Dele Ore, President, Aviation Round Table, said that airport runways and facilities should be upgraded to meet the ICAO and the IATA standards, codes and conventions.
He said the challenges faced in the sector include debts owed by domestic airlines, revenue leakage, lack of integrated economic intelligence database, decaying airport terminals and lack of aeromedical ambulances.
Ore, therefore, said steps should be taken to overcome the challenges to enhance safety.