Firstnation Airways said that barring any last minute hitch it would commence flight operations on September 15, 2016 as scheduled by the management of the airline, stating that the major challenge the industry has is the difficulty in accessing forex, which has led to unpredictability and uncertainty in a sector that is defined by accurate planning and timing.
Director of Flight Operations of the airline, Capt. Chimara Imediegwu said Firstnation Airways’ inability to source for foreign exchange with the ever changing Central Bank of Nigeria policies and Rate of Exchange (ROE), makes it difficult for the airline to carry out aircraft maintenance and acquisition of aircraft spares when needed.
Earlier, the airline in an online statement said that it suspended flight operations, because it was carrying out maintenance on A319 fleet and that this maintenance exercise will be completed on or before September 15, 2016.
“The airline planned these maintenance action well ahead, notified passengers and flights are currently loaded online effective September 15, 2016 – this will ensure that passengers continue to en joy safe and reliable service that the airline is reputed for. Current foreign exchange constraint, coupled with over 70 percent devaluation of Naira partly contributed in no small measure to this development. The Airline’s plan remains on track to reinstating service as advised herein,” the statement reads in part.
Imediegwu told journalists that the airline would resume operations barring any last minute hitch on September 15,2016.
He said that the challenges of sourcing foreign exchange with constantly changing Central Bank of Nigeria policies and Rate of Exchange (ROE) leaves the airline sometimes in situations where aircraft parts cannot be obtained when ordered due to banks’ inability to transfer funds based on bids and maintenance schedules programmed with external Maintenance and Repair Organisation (MRO) providers suffers the repeated failures of the bidding system.
Imediegwu further explained that the disruption these forex transfer issues cause are better imagined, adding to reduce this disruptions operator are sometimes compelled to source forex from the parallel market at cut throat rate, even though the sum required are mostly in hundred of thousands of dollars.
The Director Of Flight Operations stated that having contended with these challenges, the airline planned well ahead and kept the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) informed of the progress of the maintenance of its aircraft.
According to him, “We actually had just received one of them from a heavy maintenance early this year while preparing for the departure of the next for maintenance, the one that came back from checks developed fault. This called for immediate action with the manufacturer’s specialists. We arrived at a decision to get them to come in and do a final job on it. The authority was constantly kept in the know, formally. In order to remain within the triple SSS; Safety Schedule and Service boundary ,effectively regulating ourselves, Firstnation voluntarily grounded these aircraft even though at enormous cost to await the arrival of the manufacturer’s team,” he disclosed.
