The director of strategy and planning, Caverton Helicopters, Mr. Kingsley Uwagbale has commended the federal government for removing duty on imported aircraft spare parts saying the gesture brought about tremendous growth in the airline business.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos when he received a delegation of members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents in his office, Uwagbale said the zero-duty regime had brought about improvement in training of personnel as the huge amount hitherto paid on duty is now channelled deployed to critical areas to improve safety.
He also commended the federal government’s efforts at providing a friendly environment for airline business to thrive adding that government had done a lot in capacity building by incorporating aviation training into the Niger Delta amnesty programme.
Uwagbale also disclosed that the helicopter company had concluded plans to construct a maintenance facility to train manpower for the industry adding that the company would be one of the leading airlines in the world in the next five years.
“The facility will bring about huge job opportunities. Nobody will need to go abroad for training as we will do up to C-checks in the facility,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said helicopter company had increased the number of women pilots in the rotary wing segment of the airline industry.
“We have deliberately set aside a number of slots for women as we aim to increase the number of female pilots manning rotary aircraft in Nigeria. Currently we have six women in training institutions around the world. The next round of recruitment will principally focus on women here,” he said.
In his response, the leader of the delegation, Mr. ChukwuemekeIwelunmo commended the company’s giant strides for acquiring 40,000 square metres of land at the international wing of the MurtalaMuhammed Airport to construct its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility as well as its training programmes for airline pilots and engineers.
Iwelunmo stated that “an MRO is long overdue in the country and training of pilots and engineers has been jettisoned since the demise of the Nigeria Airways.” He urged the company not to relent in doing its utmost to grow the aviation sector.