SAHCO Boosts Operations, Acquires New Equipment

 

 

Posted by Sade Williams

 

Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc has boosted her fleet of Ground Support Equipment (GSE) with more ultra-modern equipment.

The new fleet of equipment acquired includes ten Passenger Step Units that were manufactured by Mallaghan which is a renowned aviation industry manufacturerand supplier of highly acclaimed Ground Support Equipment.

The Passenger Step Units have the capacity to provide passenger access to a widerange of aircraft which include B747, B777, B767, A340, A380, A320 etc.

Also, the equipment is fitted with proximity sensors which are devices that shutsdown the equipment engines when they are positioned too close to the aircraft toprevent aircraft damage.Another acquired equipment in the new fleet is an Air Starter Unit (ASU) which isused to supply necessary quantity of air at a specified pressure to aircrafts while itis parked.

The A.S.U was acquired from Guinault in France and has an eco-friendly engine while the chassis is made from steel to reduce the rate of corrosionor wear, also it has a safety device attached to the fuel gauge to enable it shut downwhen the fuel is less than 30 litres to prevent engine damage due to fuel shortage.

Furthermore, two units of Airmarrel High Loader LAM 7000 were also part of the latest acquired fleet of GSE.

The LAM 7000 has the capacity of loading about 7,000kg of pallets or container at a time. This equipment is also furnished withproximity sensors and were procured from Airmarrel, a G.S.E producing giantfrom France. It is also furnished with electrical and hand emergency pumps whichcan be used during emergency procedure.In a related development, SAHCO Engineering team has produced 20 baggagecarts from locally sourced materials.

These equipment that has been dispatched to SAHCO’s Abuja station were produced according to European standard with hugeimprovements on their European counterparts.

The carts were produced to be able to carry more baggage, rugged side guides withheavy duty hinges to customize their functionality to suit Nigerian baggagepeculiarities.

Also, they can maneuver at 90 degrees unlike their European counterparts. These carts were produced thereby saving SAHCO lot of foreign exchange.

Speaking about the equipment, the Managing Director/CEO of SAHCO, BasilAgboarumi said the company’s Management decision to constantly invest inmodern Ground Handling Equipment is due to the fact that SAHCO is alwayspursuing excellent services to clients.

“As always, we are an aviation GroundHandling provider and what we stand for and want to be known for is not just toprovide services but to provide excellent Ground Handling Services and we havean understanding as an organization that for us to be able to provide that kind ofservices, we must have staff that are well trained in what they do and have the rightequipment to work with.”

SAHCO is a Publicly Listed Aviation Ground Handling Service provider that is present in all the commercially operated Airports in Nigeria which are Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Calabar, Ilorin, Enugu, Maiduguri, Gombe, Ibadan, Jos, Asaba, Benin, Bauchi, Uyo, Sokoto, Kaduna, Yola, Bayelsa, Warri and Anambra.