Five months after securing AOC, NG Eagle yet to take-off

THE planned takeoff of Nigerian Eagle airline has again suffered a setback as the airline failed to secure engines for its aircraft, five months after it secured its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

According to a source, the six engines needed for the airline’s Boeing 737 aircraft to commence operations worth $5 million each and totalling $30 million cannot be purchased as no lessor is willing to do business with the airline.

The anxiety amongst key players is that if airline which had in March this year, secured the AOC as a scheduled operator fails to commence operations due to its inability to secure the needed engines for its aircraft, the approved AOC may expire, compelling it to wait for the three years periodic renewal.

Before the upward review of AOC last year, the document used to elapse every two years, but NCAA reviewed its validity to three years in 2022 after the new Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs) Act 2022 came into effect.

Prior to the review, the airline operators and some stakeholders had, at different fora, canvassed for the AOC validity to be reviewed upward, which NCAA acceded to.

Despite the review, the NCAA can, however, revoke AOC three months after its expiration when not renewed by a holder airline.

A management staff of NG Eagle who confirmed the developments in an interview, said though the airline set to commence scheduled operations, but for its inability to secure engines for its airframes, as most lessors were unwilling to carry out business with Nigerian companies due to past experience.

Rather than lease the engines for Nigerian airlines, the leasing companies preferred to sell them outrightly.

He assured that the airline would commence operations in the next three months despite the challenges.

The source who lamented how the freefall of naira against the dollar also affected the fortunes of operating airlines in the country and its plan to take off, adding that: “I am a part of NG Eagle, but nobody wants to do business with Nigeria because of a previous bad experience. So, for a mid-engine that is about 3,000 to 5,000 cycles is what I am talking about, an average price is about $5,000,000, which is outright purchase. If you want to lease, maybe it is about $75,000 to $120,000 monthly. So, it depends on where you are getting the engines from and the terms and conditions; short term lease or long-term lease.”

“The aircraft and the airframes are there, but the engines are out of cycles and parts of the challenges now is that we are thinking of taking our own engines to the shop to repair, but we also need loaner engines to see how we could use that and startup operations.

“Currently, we need about four to six engines, which we are working on because it has been very difficult and very challenging. I don’t want to use the word stall, but I can say it has just delayed us. It has delayed the startup date, but the startup plan is still on course. We are only looking at the alternates.”

While revealing that should the airline fail to secure the required engines for its operations, it may change the aircraft brands it intends to use for operations.

His words: “We are still on course and I can tell you it is going to be an airline to contend with. We are looking at the next three months to start and hit the ground running, all things being equal because it still has to do with some external factors, which we don’t have a control over”.

Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had wanted to establish NG Eagle out of the skirmishes of Arik Air under its receivership since March 9, 2017, but some stakeholders and one of the unions kicked against it and petitioned the National Assembly on the project.

Before the NCAA initially denied the Nigerian Eagle its AOC, it was already on its fourth phase of the five phases exercise as the opponents of the project had alleged that AMCON was stripping the assets of Arik Air to form NG Eagle.