Aviation Nigeria
Though the aviation authorities have yet to disclose the exact number of private jets that are operating in Nigeria, industry stakeholders yesterday said there were about 150 private jets valued at about $3.75bn (N600bn) in the country. On the average, each jet costs $25m.
The managing director, GTBank Plc, Mr Segun Agbaje, who spoke at a one-day Nigerian Business Aviation Conference 2013 held in Lagos yesterday, noted that the most popular jets among Nigerian billionaires are Gulfstream, Bombardier, Global Express, Hawker Legacy and Dassault Falcon.
The theme of the conference was “The Emerging Market in Business Aviation”. It was organised by Evergreen Apple Nigeria in Lagos.
According to Agbaje, most of the jets were imported from the United States of America, Canada, Europe, Brazil and South Africa and the owners paid for them by cash, direct lending and leasing.
Cash acquisition of aircraft amounted to 70 per cent; leasing, 14 per cent while direct lending was 16 per cent.
He noted, however, that banks in the country were yet to invest in the aviation industry because of the attendant risks in commercial aviation, but explained that, with the involvement of financial institutions, the sector would record a boost.
“Aircraft financing is a way to deepen banking relationship with top private banking customers and corporate organisations, but there are some challenges in the financial institutions as most of us don’t realise yet the importance of support for the industry. Nigeria provides a huge opportunity for development in aircraft manufacturing industry,” he stated. “Risks and problems associated with commercial aviation is one of the problems confronting the sector. However, most financial institutions will prefer to support business aviation at the expense of commercial aviation. Business aviation has less risk when compared to commercial aviation.”
The total number of private jets in the country has made Nigeria the continent’s largest market for private jets.
Source: Leadership
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