L-R: Capt Ado Sanusi, MD/CEO of Aero Contractors; Engr James Omiyi, Head, Aero MRO and Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, during the presentation of the recently acquired equipment at the 67th Anniversary Ceremony of Aero Contractors which held in Lagos on Monday
Managing Director, Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi has called on the Federal government to protect and recognise the airline as a national asset as a way of preserving its legacy.
Speaking on Monday at a ceremony to mark the 67th anniversary of the airline, Sanusi said the airline must be seen as a national treasure that should be protected to operate for another 67 years.
The Aero boss noted that the current status of the airline is the product of resilience and hard work of its dedicated workforce over the years, adding that such must not be allowed to fade.
“That is why this legacy must not be allowed to fade. Sixty-seven years is not a number, it is a living memory, carried by every Nigerian who learned to frust the skies because of us, and by every young Engineer and Pilot who cut their teeth in our hangars and cockpits. I stand before Your Excellency the Minister today, and I say, respectfully but firmly: Aero Contractors is not merely an Airline. It is a National Treasure. I humbly appeal that it be recognised, protected, and positioned as such, to serve this nation for the next sixty-seven years, and beyond.”, he said.
He said Aero Contractors started as a small company flying men and equipment to the oil fields of the Niger Delta to become one of Nigeria’s iconic aviation companies.He said the resilience of the airline deserves special recognition.
“I came to tell you a story of resilience.We have grounded fleets and empty hangars and still, we flew.We have gone months without a single aircraft in the sky, and still, we flew. We have buried colleagues, gone without pay, and watched the world write us off, and still, we flew.“That is not luck. That is not chance. That is the quiet, stubborn dedication of the men and women of Aero Contractors, the Engineers who stayed back long after their shifts ended, the pilots who kept current on their licenses even when there were no Aircraft to fly, the cabin crew, the ground staff, and every support team who kept this airline alive through years of uncertainty. Today, we honour them, not with words alone, but with a solemn commitment to never again take their sacrifice for granted.”, he added.
Speaking on the challenges facing the industry, Sanusi commended President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the minister for the renovation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, in Ikeja, Lagos.
However he requested for a firm Renewed Hope Agenda for Aviation, where the industry should be a fulcrum and catalyst for economic growth through tourism, trade, jobs and foreign investment.
He warned that Nigeria is slipping down the ladder as other nations are building new mega-airports and a major maintenance hangar with the eye to equally serve the Nigerian market, and if nothing strategic is done Nigeria risks her airports becoming ghost structures.
L-R: Engr James Omiyi, Head, Aero MRO; Capt Ado Sanusi, MD/CEO of Aero Contractors; Capt Imoleayo, Director, Flight Operations, Aero Contractors and Engr Emmanuel Adeyeye, Technical Director, Aero Contractors, during a press conference with the media at the 67th Anniversary Ceremony of Aero Contractors which held in Lagos on Monday
“Now permit me to speak a little more broadly, to the state of our industry. Mr. President, your Renewed Hope agenda has touched roads, touched power, touched agriculture. We have seen it touch this very airport, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, where your administration’s investment in renovation and infrastructure is already changing the face of our gateway to the world. For that, Honourable Minister, we say thank you, and Aero Contractors stands ready to be your partner in that vision. However, Mr. President, I must respectfully ask: Where is Aviation in the Renewed Hope agenda? Aviation is not simply a mode of transport; in nation after nation, in the Gulf, in East Africa, across our own continent, it has been used deliberately as a catalyst for economic growth: tourism, trade, jobs, foreign investment.
“And while we wait, others are not. Even now, a new mega-airport and a major maintenance hub are rising just across our border, a few minutes’ flight from Lagos, built, quite deliberately, to serve the Nigerian market. If we do not respond strategically and soon, we risk our airports becoming ghost airports, our hangars falling silent, and our jobs and investment flying quietly across the border, using our own population as the prize. Mr. President, Honourable Minister: we are respectfully asking for a Renewed Hope for Aviation, a deliberate, strategic national focus on this sector, alongside roads, rail and power, so that Nigeria’s skies remain ours to command. ”
The airline commenced services in 1959 as a charter and crop-spraying operation, before becoming a vital lifeline to the oil and gas industry. It’s major backbone was rotary wing operation, with the support of its defunct foreign technical management that carried Nigerians to places no road could reach, and through the training school that has shaped generations of Nigerian pilots and engineers, the airline was able to establish itself as a flagship of Nigerian airline industry.
In 2000, it launched scheduled passenger services covering most cities in Nigeria and the West Coast, making it the longest serving schedule career in Nigeria today. On the 4th of January 2018, after fourteen years in which no Nigerian Airline had performed a C-check on a Boeing 737, the airline’s Engineers, working from its hangar in Ikeja completed Nigeria’s first indigenous C-check: the first of its kind not just in Nigeria, but across the whole of West and Central Africa.
Today, Aero Contractors stands as a fully integrated Aviation Enterprise, Scheduled Operations, Charter and Rotary Wing, Maintenance and Repair Overhaul (MRO), and Pilot Training, and the MRO now serves sister carriers across West Africa. In 2016, when the airline’s fortunes were at its lowest, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) stepped in, took a majority stake, and gave the Airline a second chance at life.
The MRO has upgraded to state of the art smart tools that have chips in them, new equipment and extension of hangar to serve the West and Central African markets.
“The resilience now shows in our numbers too, from an operating margin of minus 134% in 2022 to a positive operating margin by 2025. That is why this legacy must not be allowed to fade. Sixty-seven years is not a number, it is a living memory, carried by every Nigerian who learned to trust the skies because of us, and by every young Engineer and Pilot who cut their teeth in our hangars and cockpits”, he added.
