13.04.2021 - 16:47 UTC
Nigeria’s Air Peace (P4, Lagos) has long-term plans to set up its own Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) facility to avoid the costly maintenance of its aircraft abroad in the face of inadequate capacity at home, spokesperson Stanley Olisa has said.
“This is something we are considering in long-haul but not in the immediate,” he said while confirming that Air Peace currently has 17 aircraft - including E145s, B737s, and one B777 undergoing heavy maintenance in the Middle East and Morocco. He cited high operating costs and lack of adequate technical manpower as some of the challenges impeding a local MRO operation.
With 62% of its fleet of 27 aircraft outside the country, Air Peace chairman and chief executive Allen Onyema recently apologised to passengers for flight disruptions caused by the non-availability of equipment, saying the return of the aircraft had been delayed because of COVID-19 lockdowns in those countries. This had affected the airline's operations, as it had to reduce the number of routes and frequencies it was serving.
Olisa told ch-aviation the airline...
Editorial Comment: Clarifying that E145s are used on domestic and regional routes. - 15.04.2021 - 05:54 UTC
15.07.2020 - 00:02 UTC
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended Part G of several carrier's operations specifications, effectively banning them from wet-leasing their aircraft to other operators for the time being, local media reported citing official correspondence.
The suspension covers the following airlines:
- Sky Power Express Airways (NS, Lagos), an operator of four Hawker 800XPs, two Bombardier Challenger 604s, one Challenger 601, and one Gulfstream G200;
- JedAir (Lagos) with a single CL-604,
- OmniBlu Aviation (O7, Lagos) with a single CL-604,
- West Link Airlines (WLN, Abuja) with one CL-601 and one CL-604,
- NestOil with a single Gulfstream IV,
- Izy Air (Abuja) with a single Gulfstream II, and
- Jet Support Services (JNS, Lagos) with a single CL-604.
The suspensions will remain in effect until a full compliance audit of all the affected airlines has been carried out.
02.07.2018 - 13:38 UTC
The Nigerian Government is set to exempt all forms of transport from paying Value Added Tax (VAT) following President Muhammadu Buhari's signing of an Executive Order early last month. The order must, however, still pass through Nigeria's National Assembly before it can be enacted into law.
In a statement hailing government's positive first steps, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) said the removal of VAT would help make air travel more affordable thus benefitting the Nigerian aviation industry as a whole.
“We, as Nigeria, have been crying out for decades now for discussions on the immediate removal of VAT from domestic air transportation in line with global best practice, but we have barely been heard over the years," AON Chairman, Capt. Noggie Meggisson, said in a statement. “VAT is an added burden on our passengers who have limited disposal funds and have reached their elastic point in this difficult time in the nation’s economy. This adversely affects the sector by reducing the number of those who can afford to travel by air due to high fares in this...
04.06.2018 - 10:50 UTC
Nigeria's coterie of privately-owned airlines have threatened to cease paying Value Added Tax (VAT) citing its selective enforcement.
Following a meeting of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) last week, member carriers that include Med-View Airline, Air Peace, TopBrass Aviation, JedAir, Dana Air, Azman Air, First Nation Airways, and Overland Airways, said they had resolved to stop VAT remittances to government with effect from June 14.
According to the Daily Trust newspaper, TopBrass CEO Roland Iyayi said the decision to resist the tax is as a result of government's selective implementation of the VAT statute. The operators bemoaned the fact that aviation is the only mode of transport that is still subject to the tax. They also called out government for its alleged preferential treatment of Arik Air (W3, Lagos) and Aero, both of which are now controlled by the state-owned Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), for their alleged non-payment of VAT.
They collectively blamed over-taxation for driving many local operators out of business while at...
