United Nigeria boosts fleet with six E190 aircraft, signs pact on MRO

United Nigeria Airlines is to boost its fleet with six new Embraer Aircraft (E190s) with the first of the planes arriving last weekend.

The first aircraft registered, SX-PTM, arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on October 31, 2024 and was inspected by the company’s chairman, Professor Obiora Okonkwo.

According to the airline, while the second aircraft is expected shortly, the carrier expects another two in the first quarter and another two in the second quarter of 2025.

To boost the fleet expansion and support the maintenance of its fleet, the airline also inked a joint venture partnership deal with Cronos Aviation to establish a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria.

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Also, the chairman signed another deal for codeshare and inter-line partnership with Cronos.

Speaking at the signing of the MoUs at the airline’s corporate office in Ikeja, Lagos, Okonkwo stated that the codesharing is to enable United Nigeria expand their operations in the region since Cronos Aviation is already operating in some parts of the West African area.

“Interline and Codeshare Agreement will help us to integrate services and provide strong regional operations and also help in commercial activities. Interline will help us in the fifth freedom that is going on the aviation eco-system in Nigeria,” he said.

On the MRO, he explained that Cronos already has an existing MRO in South Africa at O.R Tambo International Airport which has been operating for over 13 years.

He said, “We have a plan to have about six aircraft in that category of E190 between now and the second quarter of next year. Hopefully, we will have the second one shortly. The first quarter we are going to have two. And then in the second quarter of next year, we are going to have additional two.

“For us, it is a new fleet. We have to develop the capacity, both the cabin crew, cockpit crew and the ground engineering crew. This is also part of the partnership that we have signed.”

He stated that the establishment of the MRO would save the country a huge amount of foreign exchange spent on similar services abroad.

“We have no doubt that with this, we will not only be saving the cost of operations for United Nigeria, we should as well be offering services to other operators who might need them. That will also help the nation to save our scarce foreign exchange and open a new door for participation in aviation because other countries will also visit us to enjoy or benefit from our services.

“Sometimes, we complain about delays and that has to do with AOG. When AOG comes, safety, high technical standards are a watchword of Nigerian operations,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Marathon Airlines, Andeas Kaiafas, stated that Cronos Aviation is partnering with the airline due to the confidence it has in its operation.