The inability of Azman Air’s management to repatriate four aircraft from maintenance due to foreign exchange (forex) scarcity has led to the suspension of the airline’s operations.
An inside source at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revealed that the regulatory body has been engaged in marathon discussions with the airline’s management to address the situation.
According to information obtained by Nairametrics on Wednesday, two of the four aircraft were sent to a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Turkey for C-checks, while the remaining two underwent maintenance in a Nigerian MRO facility. Azman Air, which once boasted seven aircraft, including leased Airbus A320 and A330 planes, along with Boeing 737 aircraft, faced challenges in securing funds for maintenance checks.
The insider disclosed that the leased aircraft had been returned to their original owners, while the four aircraft owned by Azman Air were due for maintenance at different intervals. Unfortunately, the airline’s management was unable to raise the necessary funds to conduct the required checks.
The airline’s fleet has an average age of 25 years, and the cost of a comprehensive C-check for a Boeing 737 series typically amounts to around $1.8 million.
The scarcity of forex, coupled with the fluctuating Nigerian currency and its recent depreciation, has hampered Azman Air’s ability to restore the grounded aircraft to operational status. The source explained that with the naira’s value dropping to over N900 to a dollar, the challenging economic climate makes it difficult for airlines to raise the required foreign exchange.
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“We couldn’t raise the necessary foreign exchange to bring back the aircraft to operations. Don’t forget that the naira had dropped in recent times and it has even continued to drop with this government. Currently, a dollar is over N900. Which market can sustain that?
“We are not the only ones affected by this challenge. Every airline is going through the same in our clime. I can tell you the fleets of most of the airlines have plummeted. They can’t bring back their aircraft from maintenance bases either in Nigeria or abroad.
“We sell in naira and we carry out virtually every form of our operations in dollars. We buy spare parts in dollars, and insurance, which we do in dollars. The equipment we use is acquired in dollars. There is no part of the aircraft that we manufacture here. So, the terrain is tough. More airlines will go down.”
Spokesperson for Azman Air, Nurudeen Aliyu, confirmed that the suspension of operations was a result of the unavailability of necessary equipment, causing the management to make the difficult decision. He assured that the airline would resume operations once the grounded aircraft return to service.
“We are not ceasing our operations. We only suspended it. We have pulled out four of our airplanes for maintenance. We had hoped that they would return immediately, but since we could not get them back, we had to send our staff on leave of absence. But we are coming back, I can assure you of that.”