Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says its intervention pushed back Aero Contractors to profitability following its takeover of the management of the airline in 2016.
The incumbent Managing Director of Aero Contractors said recently that the airline achieved a significant financial turnaround, reducing its liabilities by 33 per cent and recording an 18 per cent profit margin in 2024, a sharp contrast to the 69 per cent loss recorded in 2022.
Reacting to the development, Managing Director of AMCON, Gbenga Alade, told newsmen in Lagos on Thursday, December 5, 2024, that the new management of the airline had been able to turn around its fortune with two aircraft they got from the Cross River State government.
Alade said: “Right now, they have only two aircraft flying and yet they were able to make money from them and the two aircraft did not even belong to them. They were given to them to manage by the Cross River State Government. They don’t even have the aircraft of their own. The ones they have had problems, and they are trying to fix them.
“Now that they have started to make a profit, they are creating a pool of funds to refurbish their own aircraft. They also have plans to bring five more 737, 500 series very soon on dry lease arrangement.”
He added that the Cross River State Government has also given them an additional two aircraft.
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Alade said the airline’s transformation of the airline market with almost 10 aircraft makes the airline to be watched out for and because they have a history of safety among the airlines, adding: “They will take the market by storm very soon.
“If they don’t have their own aircraft but leasing and hiring engines to fly and are able to make a profit, imagine what will happen if they have their own,” Alade enthuses. He said that is a good example of an airline that is easy to transform and that is one of the success stories of AMCON.”
He described the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi, as “a pragmatic leader with deep knowledge of the market, the business as well as a man who has integrity and is transparent”.
This development, the AMCON boss said makes a lot of difference, which according to him is why the rebound of Aero, one of the airlines under the AMCON aviation portfolio should be celebrated as one of the many AMCON success stories.
Alade added that AMCON will not be deterred from recovering the huge outstanding N4 trillion in its books “no matter the gang up by obligors who have done serious damage to the economy of Nigeria with no intention whatsoever to repay their debt.”
He however commended the judiciary for the support in AMCON’s recovery mandate because most of the outstanding hardcore recoveries are pending in different courts across the country from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court.
He also commended the collaboration and support of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Assembly, the police, and the media in helping the AMCON recovery mandate, which he described as a national assignment.
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