Renowned
United States-based aircraft leasing company, General Electric
Commercial Aviation Services, has written Air Nigeria stating its
intention to repossess four Boeing 737-300 planes currently in the
carrier’s fleet.
The Chief Executive Officer, Air Nigeria,
Mr. Kinfe Kahssaye, who made the disclosure in a telephone conversation
with our correspondent on Wednesday, said the move followed the
grounding of the airline’s domestic and regional operations by the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
The aviation industry regulator had about
two weeks ago stopped Air Nigeria’s domestic and regional operations
over allegations of financial distress.
Kahssaye, who said the airline had given
GECAS permission to go ahead with the repossession, however said the
airline owned eight other airplanes, which would be used for its
operations as soon as the NCAA lifted the suspension order on its
domestic and regional operations.
He said, “GECAS has written to us, telling
us they want to repossess their four Boeing 737-300 planes in our fleet.
And we have told them no problems, they could go ahead. You know GECAS
has been so concerned that our planes have been on the ground for too
long following the grounding of our domestic and regional operations by
NCAA about two weeks ago.
“So, they are in the process of
repossessing the planes. You know the Cape Town Convention allows
foreign lessors to repossess their planes whenever they want to. So,
they are in the process of doing that.”
“We have 12 planes in our fleet. There are eight other planes still in our fleet. So, we can still work with these,” he added.
Air Nigeria had claimed that the suspension
was not affecting its international operations, specifically its
Lagos-London service.
It said the international flights, being operated in partnership with Egypt Air, were still in operation.
Asked if the reduction in the number of planes would mean some employees would be laid off, the Air Nigeria CEO said yes.
He, however, said he did not know the number of employees that would be affected as a result of the development.
“Definitely, when there is reduction in the
number of planes, there will be reduction in staff number. So, we are
in the process but we don’t know the number of people that will be laid
off,” he said.
A statement later released by the airline also confirmed the development.
The statement, signed by the Media
Relations Manager, Air Nigeria, Mr. Sam Ogbogor, read, “Subsequent to
the temporary suspension of Air Nigeria’s regional and domestic flight
operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, our lessors have
been requesting to repossess some of the aircraft in our fleet and we
are fully cooperating to return their aircraft.
“GECAS, one of our lessors, is already in
the process of calling back four of its Boeing 737-300 aircraft and Air
Nigeria is fully cooperating in line with the Cape Town Convention to
expedite the repossession process.”
The statement added, “Air Nigeria plans to
acquire state-of-the-art aircraft to fill the reduction in capacity and
is currently finalising plans to resume normal flight operations across
the regional and domestic routes as soon as possible.
“We will also like to inform that the
scheduled Lagos-London-Lagos flight operation is not affected by the
temporary suspension directive of the NCAA and passengers are,
therefore, encouraged to proceed with their confirmed itinerary, while
intending customers can make their reservations.”
Aviation Ministry sources had earlier
confirmed that the foreign lessor was in the process of repossessing the
four leased planes.
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