■ NIGERIA: US-based Flight Source International, AvonHeli Systems planning to establish MRO facility in Nigeria.

US-based Flight Source International, in cooperation with Nigeria’s Avon Heli System West Africa Limited, is planning to establish a helicopter and aircraft MRO hangar facility in Nigeria, Avon CEO, Mr. Ajayi Aremu, has said.

According to Mr Aremu, the two firms have already been studying the Nigerian helicopter market in preparation for the establishment of the hangar which, he said, would be an extension of Flight Source’s current MRO facility in Florida.

Apart from the maintenance hangar, Aremu said the two firms were also including in their feasibility study, plans to establish a helicopter charter business in Nigeria.

“We are looking to set up a helicopter and aircraft hangar here in Nigeria. We want to see how things go in Nigeria. In Florida, we have a hangar there with almost 50 engineers. The workforce there is around 300, from pilots to engineers, because we also sell helicopters. We have chartered flights within the US and outside the US, but not here in Nigeria."

In order to boost the helicopter sub-sector, the aircraft sales consultant advised Nigerian banks to participate directly in the financing of aircraft and helicopters, rather than leaving it to foreign financial institutions.

“We work with Zenith Bank and they have some arrangements with some international banks about how to finance the purchase for Nigerian buyers only if they have a letter of guarantee from the bank that they can at least stand for the payment for the aircraft to be made. What I want from the Nigerian banks is to buy these aircraft outright and give them to the airlines that want them. If it is for seven years payment, the bank tells you, for instance, that every month, you pay $7,000 and the interest on it is three per cent. Every month, you keep paying that and for seven years, you are done with the payment.”

Source [flyNaija]

Aremu stressed that helicopter market in Nigeria was big due to the development in the country currently.

Founded in 2011 by Mr. Aremu, Avon Heli Systems Ltd, is a logistics transportation company which offers sales, leasing, servicing/maintenance, delivery of Helicopter and aeronautical parts as well as pilot outsourcing to the Nigerian and West African markets.