Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s foremost airline, has denied reports suggesting that it plans to close operations.
This report by ThisDay Newspapers warned that barring any urgent intervention, Aero Contractors may be on its way out of the skies after over 61 years of flight operations.
According to the report, with only two aged aircraft, Bombardier Dash 8-300 and Boeing 737-500 in their early 30s and totally bereft of operating cash, the airline is now on its knees about to shut the door for scheduled services.
“Aero Contractors, which provided shuttle service for oil and gas industry for decades and extended its service to scheduled flight operations since 2000 has become moribund with over N50 billion debt overhang”.
But in a swift response, the airlines said the news story published today, May 6, 2022 captioned: “61 years after Nigeria’s Foremost Airline, Aero Contractors Goes Under, was “highly speculative, preposterous and misleading of what was not discussed”.
Aero Contractors, however, acknowledged that airlines in the country are faced with multiple challenges.
“The discussion focused on the challenges facing all airlines in industry, which is common and has been addressed on numerous occasions by the Association of Nigerian Airlines (AON).
“These include high cost of aviation fuel, high foreign exchange rate, high maintenance cost, inflation and low purchasing power of the traveling public following the increase of fares.
“Like many airlines in Nigeria, Aero Contractors have been operating daily, and facing the challenges squarely.
“We categorically deny any plan to close operations as the airline is proactively taking necessary measures and strategy to continue operation and ensure a great travel experience to our highly esteemed customers.
“Aero Contractors has one of the best Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MROs) in West and Central Africa and is Nigeria’s oldest aviation company with capacity to offer both scheduled airline services and maintenance for third party, licensed in over three countries.
“We urge our clients, customers, the traveling public and our stakeholders to disregard the story by Thisday”, the story reads.
