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Age of an aircraft does not determine its safety —Aviation experts

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Aviation experts have reacted to the recent online reports in Nigeria that Nigeria’s commercial airlines have the “oldest aircraft fleet in Africa, with the age of an aircraft in one of the airlines, Dana Air , being 28.1 years, the age many planes are either due for retirement or decommissioning. Or may have been retired at least some years earlier”.

According to the experts, it is not the age of an aircraft that determine its safety, but the maintenance routine and schedules. They contended that American airlines operate planes that are as old as 30-40 years , yet the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, CAA, has not raised any objections or concern to their safety status.

To buttress this standpoint, the less than Nine months old Boeing 737 MAX 8 Flight 610 operated by Lion Air, crashed shortly after taking off from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on October 29. Investigators believe the MAX 8 plane may have experienced problems with several sensors. It plunged into the Java Sea killing all 189 people aboard.

The experts are even alarmed that the Minister of State , Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who should protect domestic airlines was quoted as saying during the recent 5th Aviation Stakeholders Forum in Abuja that, “All this sudden growth to over 20 planes, we have seen it before. We have seen it in Chanchangi, We had seen it in Kano and of recent in Arik Air and yet they are inefficient. We have given them international routes but they don’t have capacity to operate them”.

Vanguard, November 17, 2018

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