Following the suspension of
its operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Air Nigeria
Airline will succumb to the pressure of its lessor as it is set to return four
of its aircraft.
It had earlier been reported that GE Capital Aviation Services
(GECAS), who leased some of the aircraft to Air Nigeria, was reviewing its
financial exposure to the airline and has already concluded plans to recall
five of the B 737-300′s it leased to carrier.
Spokesman to Air Nigeria, Samuel Ogbogoro said that the company
will return four of its aircraft to the lessor, GECAS, following the request to
repossess the Boeing 737-300 planes.
Ogbogoro said the lessor was already in the process of
"calling back the aircraft".
Ogboro, said that Air Nigeria would fully cooperate with GECAS
in line with the Cape Town Convention, to expedite the repossession.
"Subsequent to the temporary suspension of Air Nigeria’s
regional and domestic flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA), our lessor has been requesting to repossess some of the
aircraft in our fleet and we are fully cooperating to return them.
"Air Nigeria plans to acquire state-of-the-art aircraft to
fill the reduction in capacity.
"We are currently finalising plans to resume normal flight
operations across the regional and domestic routes as soon as possible,"
he said.
He, however, said that scheduled Lagos-London-Lagos flights will
not be affected by the suspension directive of the NCAA.
The recalled aircraft were leased to Air Nigeria while it was
Virgin Nigeria and the lease payments for each aircraft was put at $181,000
which the airline had negotiated down to $120,000.
Air Nigeria had recently refuted the claim that it is under
pressure to return the aircraft due to its financial standing, and blamed its
woes on an alleged effort to force its merger with another airline.
The airline is being sued by the Federal Inland Revenue Service
(FIRS) for tax evasion totalling N5 billion, grounded by the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) for financial distress and the repossession of its
aircraft following alleged failure to honour debt obligations to the company it
entered into lease agreement with.