The Regional Vice President of Bombardier Business Aircraft, Khadar Mattar has disclosed that wealthy Nigerians have spent $480 million on 12 private jets set to be delivered this year whilst another 70 private jets costing $2.8 billion would be delivered to wealthy Nigerians over the next 5 years.
Mattar said that the private jet business is booming in Nigeria. He spoke to journalists from PUNCH at the Nigerian Economic Summit organised by London-based Economist in Lagos on Monday.
He said, “In Nigeria, we are looking at another 60 to 70 new business aircraft within the next five years; that is about 10 airplanes a year. There are 138 airplanes in Nigeria at the moment.
“Bombardier is currently leading the market in Nigeria and Africa. Twelve new ones should be delivered this year.”
Mattar added, “The business aviation market in Nigeria is booming. It is actually its time. I will expect that it will double in size in the next 10 years. People are flying outside Nigeria now; people are flying within Africa because of their business expansion; people are flying to Europe because of their business expansion and the financials that they require.
“Nigeria as a country has actually changed; we have more laws and regulations. Infrastructure is changing, which is adapting to the new expansion. Because of this, you will see more private jets actually flying in Nigeria.”
“I am very optimistic about the business aviation market in Africa. People are now taking it seriously. They are looking at investing in fixed-base operations. They are looking at smaller airports to develop within and outside Africa.
“But it takes time. Infrastructure is needed. It is that serious in Africa, which is good for the business aircraft because people need to fly. Imagine I want to fly from Lagos to Namibia; it takes me two days to get there on commercial airlines. I will have to go to South Africa first before going to Namibia, or I have to go to Europe first. But with business aircraft, I can go and come back the same day and do my business.”