Airbus Helicopters and Nigerian-based, Helicopter company EAN Aviation Limited (EAN) have signed a partnership making EAN a distributor for Airbus Helicopters in West Africa.
According to Airbus, the strategic partnership between EAN Aviation Limited and Airbus Helicopters focuses on the West African civilian market, excluding Military. In essence, civil customers in Nigeria can now contract directly with EAN Aviation Limited who will be offering sales, servicing and support for helicopters in the West African region.
The strategic partnership with Airbus & EAN is the 7th of its kind globally. Nigeria, with the largest population in Africa and the largest GDP, offers substantial growth potential in domestic travel for Airbus Helicopters with EAN firmly positioned, as seasoned experts in the Nigerian & West African region to drive value creation.
Image 2 Caption: Left to right; Joseph Baptiste (Product Marketing Manager, Airbus Helicopters), Eric Gilles (Area Sales Manager, Airbus Helicopters), Adedayo Odusote (Head of Sales and Marketing, EAN Aviation), Alyosha Saliu Lawal (Head of Maintenance, EAN Aviation), Segun Demuren (MD/CEO, EAN Aviation) & Tayo Aiyetan (Head of Operations, EAN Aviation)
Segun Demuren, CEO EAN Aviation Limited said: “EAN has been at the forefront of Business Aviation development in Nigeria for over a decade. We look forward to leveraging our impressive network, and in-depth market understanding to grow the helicopter services industry, and to add value to Airbus Helicopters’ activity in the West African region by deepening connectivity and operational efficiency.”
Take Nigeria for example, we have 32 airports but 774 local governments that helicopters can access”. He also added, “We are glad to be affiliated with a brand that has gained the trust of millions of people, based on their decades of experience and millions of flight hours. At Airbus, safety is at the heart of everything they do, the team strives to meet the highest safety levels, and will provide servicing and support to ensure the safe operation of all their aircraft and products in the West African region, which we know is very important to our clients,” Demuren added.
Arnaud Montalvo, Airbus H/O Sales Middle East, and Africa said: “We are thrilled to have EAN as our first independent distributor in the West African region. Their knowledge of the market is second to none. We are confident in their expert team to ensure the success of this partnership and excited about the opportunity to expand our footprint in West Africa by growing the civilian market for helicopters, which is well suited to the region’s aviation needs, providing operational flexibility to develop the current transportation architecture”
EAN has been selected in consideration of their local commercial structure, capacity to further develop local & ancillary markets, ability to support Airbus customers, and contribute to customer satisfaction according to Airbus Helicopters’ Ethics & Compliance requirements.