Domestic airlines are set to lose some of their aircraft over the struggle to raise enough foreign exchange to run checks and conduct comprehensive maintenance of their fleets overseas.
It was learnt that aeroplanes flown abroad would be forced to remain in various maintenance facilities until the airlines can pay for their repairs and subsequent return to service in Nigeria.
It was reported that any aircraft that develops a fault beyond A and B checks, which can be done in Nigeria, will be parked.
Also, any aircraft that is due for a major check, such as the C-check, which is only carried out overseas at the moment, would be parked.
In a chat with reporters, the Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, Bankole Bernard, said the depletion of aircraft would further deepen the crisis in the aviation industry as airlines are losing seats.
Bernard stated that the aircraft depletion has given rise to high demand, high airfares, flight delays and cancellations.
He stated that the situation was made worse by the high cost of aviation fuel, which had risen to over N800 per litre and might hit N1,000 per litre at any moment unless there was an urgent intervention.
Benard, however, warned that airfares might continue to rise as long as the naira continued to depreciate amidst forex scarcity.
