The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo has lauded Fidelity Bank on the signing of strategic partnership with Aircraft Finance Germany, AFG for aircraft Finance in Nigeria and Africa.
Speaking during the last day of the maiden Nigerian Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit held in Lagos on Thursday at the Federal Palace Hotel,
Lagos, Capt. Najomo stated that
Fidelity Bank has been there and has played the role of the biggest airline, Air Peace in West and Central Africa.
The DG noted that Fidelity Bank has backed up Air Peace with other banks like Zenith Bank and others also joining in aviation financing, stressing that it is the way forward.
He said “the Minister has put a lot in this and we’re happy it is coming into shape.
In the next five, six months, you will see that more aircraft will come in. Better aircraft, modern aircraft will come in. They are coming in already. We expect that more operators will take leverage of this”.
The DG explained further that: “But I can tell you, from four years back, the kind of aircraft that have been into this country is quite different. There’s fleet acquisition, newer fleets. We have Embraer. We have Boeing. We have Bombardier. We have all sorts. It’s not only the airline, even the private jet sectors, too.
A lot is happening, and more will come. I predict in the next six months, in fact, as I’m sitting here, another person has said they want to start the AOC. Six months from here, you will see an influx of aeroplanes. Initially, before, we did not have the capacity. Now, we are having the capacity.”
He said the airlines are going to explore routes that have not been explored.
He disclosed that a lot is happening in the industry because the NCAA has issued between seven and eight Air Operators Certificate, AOCs.
According him: “AOC usually takes, in the past, two years, three years. But since I’ve come it is within six to nine months max, I do Ease of Doing Business, but without compromising safety. You must follow the safety regulations.”
He stated that the aircraft insurance will definitely come down as the insurance companies are now stronger.
“In as much as we have foreign insurance, we have the Nigerian insurance to back it up. I can tell you one ultimate thing we are going to see at the end of the day. Prices of tickets will come down. You can see they are coming down because we are beginning to have capacity.
We had no capacity before. So where we have airlines who are having two, three aircraft now, we are having airlines having six, seven, eight. Ultimately, Air Peace is the biggest airliner here, with over 20, 25 aircraft”, the DG said.
