Sanusi: Major Aircraft Maintenance Locally is Great for Nigeria
Aero Contractors recently made history by undertaking the maintenance of a Boeing B737 Classic aircraft at the C-check level. The chief executive of the company, Capt Ado Sanusi described the feat as a major milestone for Nigeria that would engender local
How far have you gone with the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) project?
Approved Maintenance Organisation has been given the nod by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for Aero to conduct C-checks. I have always said that Aero Contractors Maintenance Organisation has been in existence for about 58 years and it has been conducting checks and it has been improving. Over the years it has done remarkably well in maintaining small body aircraft like Bombardier Dash-8, Hawkers and other private jets.
But there has always been a limiting factor for Aero Contractors to perform C-checks on Boeing B737 aircraft. So we now had a comprehensive look at what is needed so that we could achieve the great feat of carrying out C-check maintenance on Boeing B737 classics. Finally, we got all our people and every other thing ready and send them to NCAA to look at everything for approval. What we needed was to meet the specification for conducting C-check on bigger aircraft, the Boeing B737 classic, which include B737-300, B737-400 and B737-500.We have been conducting C-check on smaller aircraft before now, but a C-check on Boeing B737 is very, very important because B737 is one of the most popular airplanes in Nigeria and actually in Africa. So we are very confident that this achievement will go a long way, and it is a game changer in aviation industry in Nigeria. It is an achievement that we look at as a big improvement in the aviation sector. So the benefit is not only to Aero but the entire aviation sector in Nigeria.
Before now people doubted whether you have the facility and expertise to do C-check?
People doubt our capability to do C-check? I don’t think they doubt us. I think they doubt the NCAA. This is because NCAA is mandated by civil aviation law to give license and to authorise companies to fly and maintain aircraft. So if NCAA has the mandate by law to do it; then they should be able to give the license for airline to fly and also maintain airplanes and we have fulfilled the conditions and they have given us the mandate.
I don’t think people should doubt, but to those people who are doubting, because there will be people that will doubt, it is very good to doubt and it is very good to criticise, but I will tell them that we are not stopping with NCAA. Before the end of the first half of next year we will get (European Aviation Safety Agency(EASA) approval and the people that doubt can continue to doubt. But before the end of next year we will get FAA (US Federal Aviation Administration) approval. These are the targets that we intend to achieve. So before the end of the first half of next year we will get FAA approval and before the end of the first quarter of next year we will get EASA approval. So we will be a maintenance organsiation that will be approved by the two major regulators in the world, which are FAA and EASA. I think that by then people who doubt will stop doubting.
In the area of maintenance are you going to partner any organisation?
We have entered into a lot of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs). We have entered into a lot of agreements with tooling companies, spare parts companies. I am sure you are aware with our agreement with A J Walters. They will supply us with tooling; they will supply us with spare parts. They will support our MRO and it is with their support that we achieved what we have achieved so far. We have also entered into MoU with South Africa Airways Technical. As I had said in my previous interviews, because this is our first C-check on Boeing 737, we would like to have some people from outside our company to come and look at the quality control of what we are doing and recommend what needs to be done if there is anything to be done differently.So, we are in touch with South Africa Airways Technical and they are already on ground with the quality control advisers throughout this project and they will be with us for a long time until we get experienced Nigerians that will continue with the quality control and the reason is that South Africa Airways Technical has done thousands of C-checks so they know the quality. And we are not producing for Nigerian standard; we are producing for international standard so we need somebody that will come and do quality control for us and advise us.Again, we have an agreement with Ethiopian Airlines Maintenance and according to the MoU we signed with them, they will give us specialised manpower, tooling and also see where they can support our MRO. As I have said several times, MRO is not something you said you want to build and you just build it, like a hotel. But MRO is something that must be started somewhere and because of the complex nature, it has to start somewhere and then develop into a big facility. All the big MROs you have seen started from somewhere, like Lufthansa Technic and others.
Last time we spoke you were talking about extending the maintenance hangar. How far have you gone with the job?
It has been done. It is part of the prerequisite for the certification to make sure that the airplane is enclosed in the hangar. We have extended the hangar and we did it in a very efficient and cost effective manner.
Have you informed other airlines that Aero is now certified to do C-check maintenance and are you getting any response?
I have concluded a meeting with an airline and they desperately wanted us to move their aircraft in for maintenance immediately after ours, but I told them that we need to do two of our aircraft before we do for a third party. Yes, we will extend maintenance to other airlines and we will sensitise the airline industry that we have a solution for maintenance here. We want to have a one-stop shop for maintenance for the airlines in the country. So if your aircraft is due for C-check you bring it to us and we will look at your package and then give you a bill. After that we discuss; because we are in the airline business and we know that the airline business is very, very challenging, especially when you have limited resources. So we will work with your resources with a bank’s guarantee and make sure we deliver the C-check to you at reduced cost.
We also have AJ Walters in our office so you can order spares from them and you can order materials like consumables; you can order anything from them while you are with us. We also have South Africa Airways Technical and Ethiopia Airlines Maintenance in case there is any specialised service you might need.
In future we are also looking at establishing a paint shop which will be located somewhere in the northern Nigeria. So that when we finish the maintenance of the aircraft we will fly it to the paint shop, let’s say in Kaduna and we paint the aircraft. Kaduna is conducive because it has the presence of Dornier in the 80s and 90s, where we have a lot of local talent. The environmental conditions in Kaduna are very good for painting so we do the painting there. We will establish proper hangar which is installed with extractors and possibly heaters; although Kaduna is a little bit hot. That will be the next phase of our MRO.
Before now there are other maintenance facilities in Nigeria that carry out maintenance up to C-check?
Let me make it very clear. When we were making this pronouncement that we are the first. We are actually the first to do C-check on the Boeing B737 Classic. We are not the first to do C-check in the country. We do Ccheck on light aircraft. We have been doing C-check on the Bombardier Dash-8 and I am sure Overland Airways has been doing C-check