7- Stars Global Hangar to save Nigeria $100m capital flight —CEO

A new entrant into the Nigeria’s  aviation sector, Santos Aviation Limited, an outfit specialising in aircraft interior furnishing is set to help reduce capital flight by creating employment for hundreds Nigerian youths.

The Chief Executive of 7-Stars Global Hangar, Mr Isaac Balami dropped this hint at the formal unveiling of Santos Aviation in Nigeria by representatives of the United States Federal Aviation Administration officials at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.

Balami said the unveiling of Santos Aviation will help solve the problems that often confront Nigerian aircraft owners while going abroad to have their aircraft interiors refurbished a move which he said it would save huge money for the airlines.

Balami, who said over 100 million dollars will be saved annually by local airlines when carrying out interior refurbishing locally, noted that the 7- Stars Global Hangar will work together with Santos Aviation to give airlines value for their money with quality sourced materials overseas.

“It is a huge relief, it is going to create jobs, it will increase safety and also the comfort of our passengers”

Balami further noted that 7-Stars Global Hangar working together with Santos Aviation will attract other airlines from other West African countries to Nigeria for patronage even as he commended the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for being supportive of the project saying that over 50 per cent of aircraft in the country came in from the United States.

Speaking on the occasion, the representative of the Director General of the NCAA, Bello Akinola described the coming of Santos Aviation into the country’s aviation sector as a very big business for Nigerians just as he declared that out of the 150 private jets in Nigeria about 30 were American registered

Akinola who said jet owners always carry out their interior refurbishing in Canada, South Africa and America, stated: “We have facility but only for maintenance. It is a good thing for us in Nigeria; it will save us a lot of money from capital flight. We so appreciate it, thanks for 7 star global and Santos for bringing this to Nigeria. For FAA, we have been a partner for long we want to support us too as it has been in the past, so there are many companies too who want to seek FAA approval.”

The President of Santos Aviation limited, Segun Adesanya said the company specialised in the provision of maintenance and interior refurbishing services to both government and privately owned aircraft.

According to Adesanya, agents and employees of Santos aviation have professional and technical licences issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States adding that the licences gave their staff eligiblibility to provide similar services on American made and registered aircraft.

“Based on our knowledge and experience in the aviation industry, it is our opinion that this sector of the Nigerian economy has a lot of potential for growth. We are aware of the recent steps taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria and some state governments that will boost the growth of the sector”,  Adesanya added.He expressed gratitude to the IATA team and commended the entire Air Peace team for a successful safety audit. He also assured that the airline would always align with global best practices and safety standards.