The Federal Government Thursday evening took delivery of a Beechcraft 350 worth $8.5million (over N3bn) for the calibration of navigation equipment at airports.
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, took delivery of the aircraft at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from the contractor, Cross Wings International limited.
The CEO of Cross Wings Air, Commondor Hambali Tukur (Rtd), presented the keys to the minister after he took delivery of the aircraft from the manufacturer, Textron Aviation Services, Kansas, United States.
The aircraft is painted in Nigerian—colours, green white and green—and has the registration number NII03J.
Sirika said, “The purpose of this aircraft is to calibrate our equipment and aids in the country for the purpose of flight operations. We used to have one in Nigeria but for the last two decades, we never had one.”
The minister said, “Nigeria will be saving a lot of money by procuring this aircraft. I know I paid about $500,000 when our equipment were due last year to South African contractor to carry out this task. If you say every six months, we will do this, that would be half a million every six months” he explained.
“So when we do it 16 times, the value of the aircraft would have been paid. Not only that, we will commercialize it, generate revenue and keep our industry safe’ he explained further.
He said the need to procure the facility is because each time Nigeria has to calibrate, it would have to look for the facility elsewhere at great cost.
“So I approached the president for approval and got it to procure this aircraft. Mssrs Cross Wings LTD won the contract. This aircraft was purpose built for Nigeria, it is equipped and has now been delivered. This is the key.
“We thank Mr. President for trusting us and believing in our capability,” he said.
Commenting, Tukur said it took about nine months to manufacture, equip and deliver the aircraft.
“It was built in Textron Aviation Services, Kansas, United States. The procurement of this aircraft will grateful improve safety in our aviation,” he said.
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