Air Commodore Simon Okwuokei (retd) is an aircraft engineer and currently, Deputy Managing Director of 7 Star Global Group including the 7 Star Hangar Limited and 7 Star airline, a performance-based aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company. In this interview with SHOLA ADEKOLA, he speaks on sundry issues about Nigeria’s aviation sector.
What is your assessment of the industry in Nigeria in the eight years of this administration?
The aviation sector is a very large sector; you have the operation side, you have the maintenance side and a lot of other sides, the Accident Investigation (AIB) and others. So, it is large in the aviation sector.
I could specifically concentrate on operation and maintenance because those two work together. So, if you look at our operation, you will agree with me that it has grown tremendously and Africa remains the largest factor for now, probably apart from India or China, and if you say Africa, everyone knows who we are talking about. We are talking of Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people, so if as we are now we have airlines with almost 60 or 70 serviceable airplanes operating, I don’t think that it is excess because Nigerians are very industrious people. We have over 20 airports in this country that are available for operation. So, we have the customers or the clients for operation to have a very profitable or lucrative air in Nigeria.
However, we also have challenges. The security situation in our country has moved almost everybody to flying. So, there is a higher demand now for air services than it was seven years ago.
Nobody would like to sacrifice any of his or her family members going by road not minding whatever amount they charge you to fly. That is why most people don’t complain when they hear that air tickets have gone up. It can never be as high as what you pay as ransom when they kidnap a family member. Yes, it is an industry that is growing and will continue to grow.
If and when we secure this country sufficiently for people to travel by road or by rail then you will see choices will come in. If you want to travel by rail or by road, then you know all kinds of pressure they get, the airlines too are under intense pressure because they have a lot of passengers to carry and the support services as far as spares are concerned, are not easy for them, so it requires support like bailouts. They need bailouts from the government. They need a certain soft landing from the government. For somebody to put in so much in an airline, he needs encouragement to sustain that business, otherwise a lot of them would run out of business.
What areas do you think the incoming administration should focus on?
Aviation, tourism and hotels are a bit close; there are so many types of tourism. I was recently in India, where India paid for 470 long haul aircraft, 220 from Airbus and 250 from Boeing and you know the population of India. If this government can do what India did, by supporting their people, giving them the kind of support that will make the business environment very conducive and competitive, you will see that the industry will grow. You see our neighbouring countries in West Africa, we don’t have to compare ourselves with them because there are no basis. Nigeria is to be compared with others like Malaysia, India because the manpower resources we have here, the intellectuals and others in every aspect of the aviation business are enough here. Nigerians have a larger population than several other countries, so if we have enough aircraft going from Nigeria to Europe and others I don’t think that we would complain of Forex, unemployment or brain drain because, a lot of people would love to come to Nigeria because there are many things in Nigeria. If you are an industrialist you would want to source your market and you want to come, but you will prefer to travel to Nigeria by Air not sea. So, the potential of aviation in Nigeria is so huge.
But because it is left for individuals or small groups to pursue, the type of capitalism following is making it very difficult. Why is Ethiopia doing very well? Because they are being supported by their government, it is number one in Africa today.
It is bringing so much to the country as the government is giving it maximum support. But if you leave the aviation industry to any other type of thing in Nigeria where people care for themselves, everybody is going to do it at a high cost, but if the basic infrastructure, basic facilities and others that are required to run it is there and people are being encouraged, small people can put their resources in aviation and come out big and they fly the flag of this country.
Nigerian Air will become a big pride and asset to this country, but I know at the airport you see Delta, Etihad and others coming from the same country.
7Star airline was granted AOC for helicopter operations. What is the position now?
The NCAA regulation for the grant of the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) is not an overnight procedure; it is a tedious procedure that has application and all types of manners and of audits to be sure that the applicants have exactly what is required to be granted licence to operate as an airline. So, we have passed through all stages and we are successful at the end and we were granted air operators certificates late last year.
Our intention is to operate helicopters for small chatters and offshore operations and that again has its own process, because some clients would want to carry out their own audits and certification different from that of the NCAA, although they are in line but they want to be very sure that the service provider is ready then. So, we are still in the process with our clients so that when we start we can have a smooth operation without any hitches. In a nutshell, we are still in the process; putting our house together, arranging for the platforms, some here are serviceable and you know we cannot just start with one helicopter. Our plan is to have at least three or four helicopters. So we are looking forward to coming on board very soon and maybe you have a client or two that you want to be involved with here, because that is why we are here in this business.
How many helicopters does 7Star have for now and when is the airline taking off?
Right now we have two airplanes here, one is serviceable and one is awaiting some spares to be serviceable. I know it is good to have at least two serviceable airplanes so they don’t go for a mission and one has an issue then you are not able to rescue either the crew or the clients. So, we want to start and start correctly. We are starting small but we have a big ambition.
Is the AOC mainly for helicopters or does it cover any other aspect of airline operations?
For now, we have one 39 helicopters but our intention is to grow it up to something bigger than that because our target clients right now are the oil industries and small charters that go to not too busy airfields. So, we are looking at bringing in some fixed wing airplanes for all these shuttles to add to the helicopters. Most of these oil fields have airfields that can take turboprop engines like Beechcraft or 228 or all those categories that can land in such airfields. So, we have all those in our plans.
How do you see the airline business in Nigeria today especially with the high cost of operations?
Talking of the Nigerian environment, it is a bit challenging, the reason being that the airline business is heavily dependent on forex. If you are buying to pay for spares, to pay for consumables to acquire, to pay for maintenance, to pay for nearly everything they are mostly dollarised and if it is Europe, sometimes you pay in Euros and all that.
So to that extent and the extent that you are having forex issues as a country.
We have a challenge, I am sure you are aware of the challenges international big time operators like Emirates Air and others have with getting their money back, it is because of the scarcity of forex in our economy. So, it is not about us, it affects the entire aviation industry.
Some airlines operate for few weeks or months and they get challenges, so they stay on ground for quite some time, the reason is just that they don’t want to work, they need spares, they may have the money in naira but to get it to dollar (the acceptable means of transaction) if its not there you cannot put a faulty airplane into the air because as the saying goes, there is no parking space in the air. So, we have to work with what we have in our country, praying that soon, the financial situation or the current situation of the country will improve to make us operate as we desire.
Don’t you think Nigeria air will address these problems you mentioned?
Nigerian Air operating all over will be a big pride and asset to this country. In this airport, you see all aircraft land. If we have Nigeria air operating and flying all over and we have Air Peace, Arik and 7 Star, all going out and other airlines coming to Nigeria, Nigerians are getting jobs and you see Nigerian flags on these airplanes. So, the more people representing this country, the happier for this country. If everyone does Nigerian flags and you are not properly equipped or positioned, you may end up having epileptic or a poorly sustainable business and if your operation is unreliable, clients will be hesitant before patronising you but if you know that while we make reservations and it is time to take off and the airplane is there you will not be worried to travel when you book Nigerian Air or others.
We desire to have Nigerian Air, to have it big because we have enough people in this country to patronise various airlines. We also need to support other airlines that are doing so much for this country, they need support because if we have service from Nigeria you can even be operating outside this country within the region.
Operating outside the country, the airline operators have said that the government is not giving them the support to be able to fly to other countries. In what area should the government come in?
Government has a very big role to make the environment very conducive for operators, there are many ways they can do it. Even most of the taxes they are doing here, some of them are trade curtains, you can give them a certain tax holiday, you can support them to get loans and guarantee loans from the global finance organisation and then here you will be a guarantor. If you can guarantee three solid airlines as a national government to give them support, it will bring less burden to them and they will operate more comfortably knowing that if it falls, the government will support them. So those vendors will not be afraid in giving you the necessary support that you deserve to give a fantastic service to your clients.
Do you support code share by airlines?
I support code share. Why do you have a five star alliance and others?
There was a day I made a journey from the UK to Greece, there was a little delay and they knew how to sort themselves out. They are there to make passengers comfortable so that they won’t suffer from a small challenge in their system. You can even shift entire passengers to two airlines that are going to the same destination and stop the pains that passengers go through. If our airlines can have that understanding, it is just for them to have the MoU, it can happen to anybody, challenges will happen, challenges can come to any airline. But when the others are there to support you, you get your money from them, that’s the way to go, we need to support one another to go, then we get big things together.
What are your thoughts on expensive maintenance of aircraft and its cost effect on Nigerian airlines?
We maintain airplanes for operators, that is our business. We are the largest MRO around because of the capacity we have here. The engineers here are men with 30 to 40 years of experience; men that have grown to be directors of maintenance when Nigeria Airways was Nigeria Airways, that have worked in so many airlines
We have the capacity here, we just had three C-checks for Dana Air that we completed last year and they are now operating. We have the facilities and we have the manpower, we have hangars to use. For D-check, it involves a lot of overhaul but for C-check we are doing it already here. We have done it for Dana Air, we did PDM for presidential airplane for the presidency and we are working for other people here. So, we have capacity, manpower, tools and others. We move our airplanes to hangars that are available, we have MOU to make sure people save money because that money from airlines, the brakes that are being serviced, if you know the weight of brakes like 150kg, if you have to take it out of this country, what you will pay for it will be more than enough for maintenance.
What is the level of patronage from operators?
We are getting patronage from our operators gradually, the airline maintenance business is stage by stage. When we started, we had about 18 airplane types. As we see problems, we are recruiting engineers and technicians that will meet their desire and as we are doing it we are also working on the NCAA, the regulatory authority to audit us and see that we have the capacity, man power, tools and others. For each one they approve, our personnel and facility will pick the airplane but we can’t pick any airplane if the NCAA doesn’t authorise us to work on it. As we speak now, we are getting all over, locally and internationally to meet up to targeted jobs we are expecting. There are airlines already talking with us, we are maintaining the airplanes and we are doing well already and we tend to go further than this.
