Nigeria’s Aero Contractors are indefinitely suspending passenger operations from Wednesday, July 20. In a statement, the airline said most of its planes were undergoing maintenance and that was impacting their ability to operate services as scheduled. Aero Contractor’s fleet of Dash 8-300s and Boeing 737-400 and 737-500 aircraft normally provide timetabled passenger flights around Nigeria.
Aero Contractors cites maintenance issues for the flight shut down
Nigeria’s The Daily Sun has the inside scoop on what’s going on at Nigeria’s oldest passenger airline. They flagged cash flow problems at the Lagos-based airline earlier this year. The newspaper says Aero Contractors had leased a pair of Airbus A320s to enable network growth. But one of those planes went tech and is now out of service and the lessor recovered the second after Aero Contractors failed to meet their lease obligations.
The newspaper cites inside sources saying the rising cost of aviation fuel was putting Aero Contractors under financial pressure. The airline now only operates seven aircraft; one de Havilland Dash 8-300, two Boeing 737-400s, and five Boeing 737-500s. Aircraft database planespotters.net has three of those seven planes parked. But whether they are parked for maintenance purposes is not clear.
Simple Flying is at the Farnborough Airshow this week. For all the latest news from the show click here!
“This decision was carefully considered and taken due to the fact that most of our aircraft are currently undergoing maintenance, resulting in our inability to offer a seamless and efficient service to our esteemed customers,” says a statement from Aero Contractors released on Monday. “We are working to bring these aircraft back to service in the next few weeks, so we can continue to offer our passengers the safe, efficient, and reliable services that Aero Contractors is known for.”
Aero Contractors is not the only Nigerian airline in financial trouble
Other Nigerian media outlets are reporting Aero Contractors isn’t the only local airline in strife. Reports say the Airline Operators of Nigeria believe another two airlines will soon cease or suspend operations due to financial pressures caused by rising fuel costs. There is a wide range of possible candidates to choose from. Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) in Lagos is home to 15 airlines that operate scheduled passenger services and dozens more cargo and charter airlines.
The Aero Contractors’ statement touches on some issues impacting all airlines as well as issues particular to airlines who operate out of a country whose currency isn’t a hard currency
“The past few months have been very challenging for the aviation industry and the airline operators in particular, with the high cost of maintenance, skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation, and forex scarcity resulting in high foreign exchange rates. These are amongst the major components of airline operations,” the statement said.
Aero Contractors say passenger flights will resume, but don’t say when
While Aero Contractors is at pains to point out the suspension is temporary, they do not provide a timeline for the resumption of passenger flights. Aero Contractor’s aircraft maintenance operations, flying school, helicopter, and charter operations will continue to operate as normal.
“In the meantime, we are working assiduously to return to service as quickly as possible, and do assure our esteemed customers and stakeholders of our determination, that our short absence will not create any major void in the market, as we are coordinating with our business partners to ensure minimum discomfort to ticket holders. As members of Spring Alliance (a commercial alliance with member airlines providing mutual support in the area of operations), we are liaising with our partner airlines to minimize the impact on our esteemed customers,” the statement concludes.
Source: The Daily Sun