On Wednesday 28 August 2024, in Seattle, State of Washington the USA, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo (SAN) led a delegation comprising major local airlines in Nigeria to The BOEING COMPANY’s early beginnings.

The local flight operators who identify as Airline Operators of Nigeria and travelled with the minister to Washington alongside crucial civil aviation ecosystem stakeholders would count themselves privileged to have witnessed the outcome of such a visit very soon.

According to cabinet member Keyamo, an important Memorandum of Understanding with BOEING came out of it. He compiled the key points in his tweet posted via his X profile the next day numbering up to nine areas of breakthrough.

With plane mishaps seeming to never go away, these key milestones are being seen as avenues to change disastrous occurrences such as aircraft losing their tyres or the threat of inflammation during flight being reduced.

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Through enhanced technical support to help airlines introduce new or used Boeing Aircraft, this could be realised. Also captured in the third point of the memorandum of understanding is the plane maker’s commitment to provide training in airline operations and business models to enhance airline business practices.

It is a continuation of the progress he made last month following the announcement in mid-July of the resumption of the issuance of United Arab Emirates visas to Nigerians and the resumption of direct flights between both countries. The aviation ministry under his care looks its strongest since ever.

Working out an MOU with BOEING isn’t beneficial to Nigeria alone – but also to the leading global aerospace company.

Yesterday, in Seattle, State of Washington in the USA, I led a delegation of the Executives of major airlines in Nigeria under the auspices of Airline Operators of Nigeria and other important stakeholders in the civil aviation ecosystem in Nigeria to sign an important Memorandum… pic.twitter.com/AQuvDW6wAu

— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) August 29, 2024

BOEING’s Vice President of Commercial Sales for Africa Anbessie Yitbarek has reacted to the fresh partnership. According to the exec, it is an important step in establishing a sustainable civil aviation ecosystem in Nigeria as there is shared interest and value in driving innovation and progress.

The VP owned up that Nigeria’s importance to BOEING lies in its rich potential to foster economic growth, connect people, and shape the future of aviation in Africa and beyond.

Based on a Commercial Market Outlook, the company projects Africa will need 1,170 airplanes over the next two decades. It wants to tap into the fact that more than 60 airlines operate 500 BOEING aeroplanes throughout Africa. That is why there has been a significant move to maintain the demand and East African country Ethiopia gets the attention of a staging area.

As soon as October this year, BOEING will open its Africa office in Addis Ababa marking Ethiopia’s dominance as a continental aviation hub which Nigeria possibly wants to take after or beat.

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Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.