Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister Festus Keyamo has announced that President Tinubu approved the establishment of a Nigerian Aircraft Leasing Company to resolve the long-standing financing barriers that had prevented domestic airlines from accessing aircraft leases on competitive terms, speaking at the unveiling of two new Boeing B737-800 aircraft acquired by United Nigeria Airlines in an event that also heard the carrier disclose it had lost approximately N10 billion in three months due to aviation fuel price increases driven by the Middle East crisis.
Keyamo said the leasing company would operate under a government guarantee structure, bringing aircraft in through private dry-lease agreements and sub-leasing them directly to domestic operators, removing the international creditworthiness barriers that had historically excluded Nigerian airlines from leasing markets accessible to foreign carriers. He said the policy change, alongside earlier moves to open major international routes to domestic airlines, reflected the administration’s commitment to ensuring Nigerian carriers captured a larger share of the 16 million annual passenger market that foreign operators currently dominated at over 90 percent.
He confirmed that United Nigeria Airlines had been granted reciprocal routes to New York, Canada, and Dubai, and was working to secure suitable aircraft. He also disclosed that Enugu Airport, now privately managed under state government direction, was the subject of active negotiations with China to secure a direct cargo flight from Guangzhou beginning in December 2026, which would allow South-east merchants to consolidate shipments twice weekly into Enugu for distribution to commercial hubs including Onitsha and Aba. United Nigeria Airlines Executive Chairman Professor Obiora Okonkwo said the carrier had lost between N5 billion and N10 billion in the three months corresponding to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, during which jet fuel prices surged 266.7 percent from N900 to N3,300 per litre according to Airline Operators of Nigeria data. He named the two new aircraft after the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, and the late literary figure Chinua Achebe. He called on the government to allow aviation regulatory agencies to retain their revenues rather than remitting the majority to the Single Treasury Account, saying the current arrangement starved the NCAA and FAAN of the resources needed to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure on which airlines depended
