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Feature: Age concern
02 November 2011
Restrictions on importing older aircraft could become a troubling issue for lessors and financiers.
Read more:
age restrictions
Nigeria
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
Harold Demuren
Flight Safety Foundation
Bill Voss
John Leech
Orix Aviation
Kostya Zolotusky
In 2002, the same year a fatal crash killed more than 100 people in Nigeria, the country's civil aviation authority adopted a 22-year age restriction on imported aircraft.
Before the restriction was implemented the country operated aircraft that were on average 25 to 28 years old. Nigeria also had one to two accidents a year, until 2006. Since then there have been zero commercial flight jet accidents.
"I completely agree with [the regulation]. It has cleaned up the place," says Harold Demuren, director-general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
It is not uncommon for a country's civil aviation authorities to impose age restrictions on aircraft as a safety measure, but age has very little to do with safety. Rather, it is generally a relaxed attitude to maintenance that contributes to accidents.
Regulations often are determined by aviation authorities staffed with bureaucrats, many of whom do not have aviation experience.
"They automatically feel...
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