The decision of Aviation Working Group, AWG, co-chaired by Boeing and Airbus, to remove Nigeria from its blacklist has sparked calls for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to come hard on operators that attempt to bring the country to disrepute in future.
Following the signing of Cape Town Convention Practice Direction and the Updated Procedure for Recordation of Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorization, IDERA, the AWG increased Nigeria’s global rating from 70.5 per cent to 75.5 per cent.
Experts who spoke with journalists described the development as a win for Nigeria’s aviation sector, also asking NCAA to include stiff sanctions in the procedure for IDERA if it was not included.
While an expert told Vanguard that the NCAA should ensure that any operator that decides to go through the courts in the future loses his Air Operator’s Certificate, AOC, for a minimum of 10 years, an operator urged his counterparts to deepen trust with lessors going forward.
Chief Executive Officer at Belujane Konzult, Mr. Chris Aligbe, said with the new development, Nigerian airlines could now go into dry lease without hassle.
He said: “Now, there are laws (Practice Direction of the Cape Town Convention and IDERA) that will deter operators from going to court to seek injunctions for the detention of a dry-leased aircraft.
“If an operator does, it will be thrown out of the court. The court will not grant them the injunction. Before now, the judiciary was not fully appraised of this issue. What is now in existence is that a Nigerian court will no longer grant any injunction. That is a success.
“But what I still think is missing, as far as I am concerned, is that there must be sanctions for any Nigerian operator who tries to go to court. Whether the injunction is thrown out or not, once an operator tries to go to court, it is a violation.
‘’The sanction must state that any airline that tries such should at least lose its AOC for almost 10 years. This will serve as a deterrent. If it doesn’t include a deterrent, it is incomplete for me.”
On his part, Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, urged the Federal Government to follow up on this development by collaborating with some leasing companies to ensure that more aircraft were brought into the country on dry lease agreements.
Sanusi told Vanguard that this was necessary because the number of aircraft flying in Nigeria’s airspace was not enough to cater for passengers (load factor).
He argued that there would be cancellations and delays until there was a significant increase in capacity.
He said: “Trust is not earned in one day; it will take a while before we see the effect of airplanes being leased into the country. We pray the federal government will also look into assisting some leasing companies or even collaborate with them to ensure they bring aircraft into the country.”
He advised operators that based on Nigeria’s removal from the lessor’s backlist and his projection for the industry, he said: “First, no airline would like to default in payment of lease rentals. That is why it is called default because when you enter into the contract, there is a possibility of defaulting. I look at it in a bigger picture.
“The stability of the naira contributes to how many aircraft can come into the country, but with the new policies that this government is putting in place and with the direction the economy is going, we are looking at recovery. Based on that recovery, my projection is based on the phase of the recovery. If we are recovering fast, then I can see some aircraft coming in.
“Take advantage of the stability of the economy and lease aircraft. When they lease the aircraft, my advice is to ensure that they make adequate provision for lease payments. When there is a default, my advice is that they enter into an amicable solution rather than try to use the judiciary or other arms of government to stall the lessor from accessing his assets.
“That is what is causing the problems for Nigerian airlines when you use arms of government to stall, frustrate, deter the lessor from getting assets or even repossessing his own assets”, he added.
