[REVEALED] N1.25trn capital flight: Ibom Air MRO facility, game changer — Uriesi

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul, MRO, have been identified as the major component that makes a country earn the status of aviation hub globally, Nigeria losses over N1.25 trillion to foreign countries for this checks annually. However, in this interview, the chief operating officer, Ibom Air, George Uriesi, disclosed how Ibom air is planning to build the world class African regional airline, MRO facility to compete with major airlines globally.

Excerpts

Tell us about the new international Smart Terminal Building

The new International Smart Terminal Building being constructed at the Victor Attah International Airport in Akwa Ibom State is set to change the narrative of air travel in Nigeria with a focus on making passenger experience pleasant.

The new terminal is a huge game changer to the industry and Nigeria. This is the first multipurpose built terminal specifically designed to move passengers from flight to flight.

We have a very poor airport experience that Nigerian passengers and visitors to Nigeria have experienced through our international airports over time. For this terminal, if you want to go to Johannesburg, you book a domestic flight out of Abuja and fly into Uyo to connect to Johannesburg.

The airport experience you will get, will make you never want to fly out of any other airport.

We are going to collaborate with all the security services. Any person that has anything to do with processing of passengers will be trained to make the experience through this airport a world-class experience like you find anywhere else you go to.

Despite the fact that Lome is a very small city in Togo, situating an airline and having a strategy similar to what Ibom Air is doing, Asky had been able to develop Lome into a huge hub.

Last year, Asky processed about 1.2million passengers of which less than five percent were originating or terminating in Lome.

These passengers were all transferred passengers and the majority of them were Nigerians who had to go out of Nigeria to Lome to connect to other places.

The problem Akwa Ibom State is trying to solve by making the airport in Nigeria a modern one.

What is Ibom Air doing differently

With an on-time performance and modern fleet, Ibom Air has set the pace for healthy competition in the industry already.

The strategy of Ibom Air from the very beginning was hinged on being an airline that is sourced like any other competition airline.

You have to go and compete in a very brutal environment with airlines that have hub terminals and MRO. That is the kind of story we are telling right here in Uyo.

Our strategy to be able to build the world class African regional airline is our vision to provide a world class service such as passenger experience, the onboard experience of the passengers, the customer service element through buying of the ticket, the check-in, arrival, delivery of bags amongst others.

We will develop a business plan, execute it and we believe that if we do that in a very disciplined manner under very strong corporate governance rules which we have practiced from the beginning, then there is no reason why we won’t be a successful and competitive international standard African regional airline.

Tell us about your MRO facility

Akwa Ibom government plans to make its MRO a major MRO facility line people can find anywhere in the advanced world.

Akwa Ibom targets to become part of the Big Four in Africa among which are the MRO of South Africa Airways, the MRO of Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa, and the facility of Egypt Air in Cairo

The MRO is massive and can take two Boeing 747-800 standing side by side with the doors closed. In the same vein, it can take eight of our aircraft type, Airbus A220 at once and 10 of our other aircraft type, CRJ900.

The MRO facility is very important for Nigeria and West Africa. It is the only facility of its type in the whole of West and Central Africa but more than that, it presents an opportunity for us to move into a different era in the industry in Nigeria because of all the facilities that it has.

From wheels, aircraft brakes, tires and all the different shops; many of these things have not existed in Nigeria at this scale before. So, we have the opportunity to present this repair and overhaul maintenance facility to all the airlines in West and Central Africa.

Through the MRO, we intend to create a centre of excellence that would allow us provide the services that Nigerian airlines would have flown across the world to get.

Most of our airlines go to Europe and pay millions of Euros to be able to maintain their airplanes. With this facility, we are now going to be able to provide maintenance for other airlines right here in Uyo.

We are partnering with Airbus consulting, we have contracted them to partner with us to come and assess the facility which by the way, they are impressed with. They will help us develop a business plan for optimal use of this facility. We want to be able to maintain our fleet which are the A220 and CRJ900 and also to advise us on which fleet best we can get the most business out of.

When we have that business plan, it allows us to know what to invest in, in terms of the capabilities of maintenance of which aircraft and target the right airlines to go after to offer our services to them.