Med-View Airline (Kano) said it would resume limited flight operations this week after its sole B737-500 returned to Lagos following extended engine maintenance works. Two B737-400s will be active by year-end, it added.
Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows 5N-BQM (msn 28055) arrived at Lagos Murtala Mohamed International Airport from Abuja via Kaduna on November 17. Sources told the Daily Independent newspaper that the jet's CFM56-3C1 powerplant had been replaced in Abuja by Aeolus Engine Services.
As previously reported, Med-View COO Michael Ajigbotosho revealed at a press conference on October 31 that the carrier would soon resume scheduled and charter operations after temporarily suspending them in August due to a lack of active aircraft. The B737-500, leased from AerCap, was its last operational jet given its two owned B737-400s are both in maintenance while its sole B777-200(ER) is currently in storage, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
The scheduled carrier is working to retool the inactive aircraft to raise the fleet to at least three before the end of 2019, Ajigbotosho said, according to the newspaper The Nation.
“We are resuming operations very soon on the Lagos-Abuja route and other routes subject to passenger availability. The aircraft is already on the ground and we have commenced technical flights in line with statutory requirements. We have fully mobilised our technical crew, pilots, and other support personnel ahead of the resumption of flights,” he was reported to have said.
“Our second aircraft, B737-400, 5N-MAB (msn 28704), will be out of the Aero Contractors (N2, Lagos) MRO facility [in Lagos] in three weeks. This will help us meet the statutory requirements for scheduled operators to have at least two aircraft to carry out scheduled domestic flights. The third aircraft [B737-400 5N-MAA (msn 28703) currently at Tallinn Lennart Meri] is being prepared for readiness for operations by mid-December.”
