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File copy: United Airlines had attributed the diversion to bad weather conditions
United Nigeria Airlines plans to set up a multi-million dollar Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul facility for airplanes in Nigeria.
The airline is advancing its plan in partnership with Cronos Airlines.
The Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, disclosed this over the weekend in Lagos, during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Malabo, Equatorial Guinea-based aviation company.
United Nigeria has also signed an interlining and codeshare agreement with the airline, which would enable the two carriers to partner domestically and regionally.
Okonkwo explained that the MRO facility would carry out maintenance services on Embraer brands, Boeing 737 classic, and 737NG brands.
Apart from servicing the domestic airlines, Okonkwo stated that the MRO would also maintain aircraft within the region, emphasising that on completion, the facility would be the biggest within the West and Central African regions.
According to him, the absence of a comprehensive MRO facility is costing us a lot of resources and stress that operators burn a lot of Jet A1, seek forex, and others.
“These are what we think are creating a high cost of operations for us in the industry. So, we have no doubt that with this, we will not only save the cost of operations for United Nigeria, but we should also be offering services to other operators,” he said.
Okonkwo added that with the new facility, the country will be conserving the scarce foreign exchange and opening up new other aspects for active participation in the aviation industry, “because other countries will also visit us to enjoy or benefit from our services.”
He mentioned that with MRO located here in Nigeria, practitioners will develop the capacity to be able to address the technical issues properly.
“So, this has a multi-dimension effect on the operations of United Nigeria Airlines and also on the entire industry, the nation in the area of saving foreign exchange and manpower development, technology, and transfer of knowledge,” Okonkwo explained.
Besides, the first of the six Embraer 190 aircraft acquired by United Nigeria Airlines arrived in the country last Thursday.
Okonkwo explained that an additional E-190 would join the growing fleet of aircraft before the end of the year, while another two would arrive in the first quarter of 2025 and another two in the second quarter of 2025.
This, he assured, would ease the pains of the flying public.
He announced that the company had concluded plans to acquire about six aircraft in the category of E-190 between now and the second quarter of 2025.
Okonkwo also maintained that they had already started training their cabin crew for the E-190 brand.
He highlighted that the engineering team on the ground has already signed to start training the line engineers.
“Our cabin crew have completed a greater part of their training abroad. Some of them have returned to the country,” he announced.
Meanwhile, Andeas Kaiafas of Cronos Airlines, said that the company was delighted to partner with United Airlines to further drive growth in the Nigerian aviation industry.
He assured that Cronos would assist the Nigerian aviation industry to grow through its partnership with United Nigeria Airlines.
