Experts and stakeholders in the aviation industry have hailed move by the Federal Government to sell off two of the aircraft in the presidential fleet.
However, they advocate for a slimmer fleet that would not be more than four for the use of the President and other Senior government officials.
Aviation veteran and former Commandant of the Presidential Air fleet, Capt. Dele Ore described the fleet as one of the largest airlines in the country having more than 10 aircraft.
Ore said, “Presidential fleet is just like running an airline. And in Nigeria today, it is the largest airline we have with eleven aircraft or so. Other airlines don’t have as many as that”.
Though the expert said the presidential fleet is the least of Nigeria’s problem, he noted that it is a welcome development if the fleet is streamlined.
Also speaking, former Commandant of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, rtd, said the presidential fleet should be reduced to four.
However, he said if the government puts up all the aircraft in the fleet for sale, it would not be able to raise up to USD$1bn.
Besides, the expert said the two aircraft being proposed for sale must be ones that are serviceable, noting that most of the aircraft in the fleet had been grounded for the past one year.
“Aircraft are meant to be flying and not to be on ground and 60 to 70 per cent of aircraft in the fleet have been grounded for the past one year and that tells you probably they are not serviceable”, he said.
