… Aviation industry in West African sub-region to receive boost
The moment aircraft owners and airline operators in Nigeria and by extension, West African sub region had earnestly been yearning for, on how to stop the sum of about $1billion spent on aircraft maintenance abroad, may have finally come to reality, as an Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO), 7Star Global Hangar Ltd, has received the certification from Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to operate an all-inclusive Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility.
Apart from the flight of huge foreign exchange that would be stopped in the aviation sector of the Nigerian economy, African Business Travel News (ABTN) learnt that the industry within the West African sub-region would witness a boom in terms of getting on time and quality aircraft maintenance.
Speaking on the benefits of the certification of the facility by NCAA; to airline operators within and outside the country, Chief Executive Officer of 7Star Global Hangar, Engr Isaac Balami expressed happiness that the huge capital in aircraft maintenance expenses amounting to over $1billion annually would no longer go out of West Africa even as more jobs would be created in the country.
“The huge capital in aircraft maintenance we often experience, amounting to over $1billion that is annually spent from West Africa alone is going to remain here, help to create jobs here in Nigeria,” he said.
Balami who spoke extensively with aviation journalists on the certification and the benefits of the hangar to aviation industry in Nigeria and West African Sub region, said: “7StarGlobal is the First independent privately owned MRO in West and Central Africa. I said “Independent” because it is a stand-alone and we were registered in 2012 and since then for about nine years, we have been back-to-back pursuing our licence and variation with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
“We are happy today to announce that after over 15 months of the NCAA reviewing our variation and our operational specifications (OpsSpecs) and also expanding our capability list in Wheels and Breaks, NDT etc, we have finally finished our phase five; the last stage in the certification process and we have been granted final approval.”
On the maintenance specification, the aircraft engineer and two term former National President, NAircraft pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) said that the organization can carry out operations inline with the NCAA certification.
He said: “We are happy to say goodbye to four years inspection/ maintenance on Augusta 139 helicopters which most VIPs, even the presidency operates. Most oil and gas companies (Mobil, Shell, and Chevron) operate it too. We also have EC 155 up to 6000 hours/12 years’ inspection. On the Learjet 45, about 9,600 hours of inspection. On the small Cessna aircraft, we have about 100 hours/annual inspection. On the Bombardier DHC-8 100/200/300 (C Checks/8000FH), DHC-8 400 (C checks/8000FH), Challenger 601/604/605 (2400 hours inspections), Hawker Siddeley HS 125-850/900 (A-G Inspections), Bell 429 (5000 hours/5 years inspections), Embraer 135/145 (Up 5000hours/ 48months inspections), Embraer 600/650 (20000 hours/96 Months Inspections) and Boeing 737-300/400/500 (Up to 8A inspections); we have the highest inspection in most of the aircraft as stipulated in the manufacturers’ manual. That means a lot of job creation for the aviation industry and we are happy doing that,” he enthused.
He continued, “I can tell you categorically that aside from about 10 expatriates that we have; to transfer technology and train our indegenous engineers on some few areas that we are not yet strong at, we already have about 68 local engineers that have the manufacturers’ type-course on those aircraft.
They are experienced, they are current and most of them with at least 20-30 years of experience working on these aircraft and working across the globe (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and the Middle East). So we have one of the best teams on the ground. I can tell you that your aircraft is safe with 7 Star Global Hangar”.
Balami further stated that 7Star Hangar currently occupies about 45,000 square meters of land in Lagos airport, a facility leased from the Nigerian Air Force Investment, partly from AMCON, and Arik airline, out of which 25,000 square meters the firm are currently being utilized.
He equally disclosed that his firm had just secured an additional over 20,000 square meters from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Lagos thereby making 7Star one of the biggest operator in terms of access to land in Lagos Airport.
He stressed that 7Star will be focusing on aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO), describing it as quite exciting because operations are starting with aircrafts that are more often taken overseas for inspection.
As a former two term ( eight year) National President of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and former employee of Aerocontractors Airlines, Balami noted that he alongside the technical team and board members had seen the difficulties airlines go through flying their airplanes overseas for repairs, which is at huge costs to operators of the aircraft.
“We went through the process of certification from phase 1 to phase 5 and today, with about 6 to 7 experienced inspectors NCAA assigned to this project, we have been able to go through the process. The MRO is fully ready for operations and we are going to be operating with other sisters MRO and hangars across the country.
“I am a product of Aerocontractors and I always say it boldly with pride. Today, we have an Memoradum of Understanding (MoU) with an airline that is about 63 years of in Nigeria, Aero. We will work together to complement each other. No one MRO, not even Lufthansa Technik has all the tools in the world. So it is all about collaboration”.
“We have invested over $5 million on equipment alone. These are equipment that the NCAA team came to inspect and they are satisfied and the equipment are all overhauled, calibrated, and up-to-date, and our engineers are well-trained on how to operate them We are happy and proud about the history Nigeria is making even in West Africa”.
On employment generation, Balami gave insight into what the organization is capable of and aiming at, saying, “When you have 68 certified engineers, you have about 100 technicians working to support them. And these are just core licensed and certified staff. I am not talking about the planning department, technical records, quality and safety department, logistics, the store, and facility. The CAMO to track aircraft continued Airworthiness etc. aviation is huge. Talking about our engineers, we just need to train and retrain them. Normally for a C-Check, you do not need more than 3 to 4 licensed engineers depending on the size of the Aircraft, the rest don’t have to be typed.
The 7 Star Hangar boss lauded the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika for all the support and encouragement, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu; the Director of Airworthiness Engr Ajiboye with his team; the General Manager AMO, Engr Sani and the entire team who participated in the success of the certification.
He therefore, assured the aviation ministry, NCAA, Aviation Stakeholders and the General Public that the trust bestowed on 7 Star Global Hangar will not be taken for granted.
