PPRuNe Forums - Illegal Biz Jet Ops In Nigeria

You seem to be a little irritated by the plethora of (probably) N-reg business jets running around Nigeria and, indeed Africa in general. Who in their right mind is going to register a $50m asset in any country (bar a few) in this continent? Once that shiny new GV/Global/BBJ/Falcon 7X etc
is registered it will forever carry that countries aviation reputation with it. Maintenance, Flight Crew Licencing etc. And I`m sorry, but there are just far too many African countries that have absolutely abysmal aviation reputations - poor (or completely non-existent) oversight of any number of aviation related areas. Poor Maintenance, ATC, Airports, Aircrew Licencing to name a few. A successful corporate aircraft salesman told me once that if a corporate aircraft had had a registration from certain countries in the world in it`s history it became sometimes, almost impossible to sell once the current company had decided to replace it. Think about it - would you rather buy a car that has a full service history from a well-regarded dealership that maintained high standards or one from 'Joe`s backyard emporium'. I understand your frustration if you are trying to get a job on one of these lovely beasts and possibly you don`t have that licence and i`m sure National Pride comes into it as well (who would want to see foreign-registered A/C doing the daily rounds in your country?) but i`m sure you can see that until most of the countries in Africa (and a few in other parts of the world) start taking aviation and its oversight seriously then they just aren`t going to get companies` trust in putting $50m+ assets on their register. Also, although not aviation related as such - given historical political instability in large parts of Africa, would you register your company`s prized possesion in that country and thereby effectively 'locking' it in there? Rather have it foreign registered and at least stand some chance of getting it out if the country degenerates into turmoil and chaos. Sure, a country can pass a law that forbids A/C based there being N-reg or whatever but I can assure you this isn`t good for business. I was in Zimbabwe when they started that game and a whole lot of corporate A/C pulled out. Those that did place their A/C on the register paid the price - they couldn`t give their aircraft away when it came time to sell, and when they tried to place them back on the N-reg (for eg.) they faced massive maintenance bills and unbelievable amounts of paperwork before the Fed`s would even consider it. That`s the reality i`m afraid. Lived and flown corporate aircraft around Africa for many years...
And, by the way, this isn`t a 'lets bash Nigeria or Africa' rant. I love Africa - wish I didn`t live here sometimes.....