Nigeria’s Commercial Airlines Fly Africa’s Oldest Aeroplanes

It has been revealed that Nigeria’s commercial airlines which includes the Dana Airlines and Air Peace , operates the oldest aircrafts fleet in Africa .

These aircrafts , which are mostly Tokunbo/second-hand aircrafts , are either due for retirement or should have been retired and taken out of service at least some years earlier.

Factors governing the retirement of aeroplanes includes pressurisation cycles, hours of flights and fuel efficiency.

Nigeria’s Arik Air has the youngest fleet of 23 aircrafts .They were bought new and they all have an average age of 11 years.

These includes four Bombardier CRJ-900 planes that are now 12.6 years old.

It also has one Bombardier CRJ-1000 that is now five years old, a 10.4 year old Airbus A340 and 13 Boeing 737 that has an average age of 12.1 years .

Dana Airlines has the oldest fleet of aircrafts.It has six aircraft, all MD-80s.The youngest delivered in October 2014 is now 22.3 years old while 5N-SAI is 28.1 years old.

Air Peace has 20 aircraft that averages 19 years. 13 of it are Boeing 737 with average age of 22.3 years ,2 Boeing 777 with average age of 18.1 years,two Boeing 737-500 are between 25 and 26 years old.

Medview has 16.7 years old Boeing 777-200(5N-BVY), 23.6 years old Boeing 767,and three Boeing 737-400 with an average age of 20.9 years.

Azman Air Services has two Boeing 737-300 and two Boeing 737-500 with an average of 20.9 years.

Max Air has six aircraft with an average age of 20.4 years. The Embraer ERJ-145 in its fleets is less than 10 years old while the other aircrafts are 20 years and above.

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AMCON controlled Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s oldest airline with a peerless safety record, has nine Boeing 737 aircraft’s with an average age of 26.5 years and two 17.8 years De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 planes .

In contrast to the ageing commercial airlines in Nigeria, Ethiopia Airlines has 104 aircraft (the largest in Africa) that includes 23 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with average age of 3.4 years, 17 Boeing 777, with average age of 5.2 years, 26 Boeing 737, with an average age of 7.9 years, nine Airbus350, with an average age of 1.4 years and 23 DHC-8 Dash 8, which are 5.4 years old.The oldest aircraft in the fleet are six Boeing 767, which are 16.3 years old.

Kenya Airways has 39 aircraft’s with an average age of 6.8 years. The aircraft’s includes twelve 10 years old Boeing 737, three 4.7 years old Boeing 777, nine 4.1 year old Boeing 787 Dreamliner and fifteen 6.3 year old Embraer ERJ-190.

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Royal Air Maroc has 51 aircrafts with an average age of 11.4 years. These includes thirty-seven 12.3 year old Boeing 737, five 2.8 year old Boeing 787 Dreamliner and four 4 year old Embraer ERJ-190.

South Africa Airways fleets has an average age of 11 years with the oldest being three 27.5 years old Boeing 737 aircrafts.

Rwandair’s 13 aircraft that includes six Boeing 737, two Airbus A330 and two Bombardier CRJ-900 has an average age of 7.1 years.

A recent study by SGI Aviation, ordered by IATA said the average retirement age of a freighter aircraft is 32.5 years and for a passenger aircraft 25.1 years.

Credits: vanguardngr