19 February 2020: The Nigerian college of Aviation Technology has ordered 20 Diamond airplanes as a part of their re-fleeting program. Out of these, first batch of six 'DA40 NG' was delivered under the patronage of Sen. Hadi Abubakar Sirika, Minister of Aviation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Sen. Hadi Abubakar Sirika, Minister of Aviation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said "In our effort to catch up with technology in line with our approved roadmap, we are happy about our state-of-the-art training aircraft from Diamond. Our efforts have earned Zaria the status of an ICAO Regional Training Center of Excellence."
Capt. Abdul salami Mohammed, Rector/CEO of NCAT said "We are very much looking forward to receiving our new aircraft from Diamond. We expect improvement in our college's efficiency as well as a substantial reduction in fuel costs because of the fuel-efficient aircraft and the much cheaper jet fuel compared to Avgas. The planes perfectly meet the requirements for modern aircraft as they run on jet fuel and are equipped with an electronic flight instrument system."
Frank Zhang, CEO of Diamond Aircraft Austria: "We are proud to be NCAT's choice for their re-fleeting program. Not only are our efficient jet fuel powered aircraft perfectly suited for the Nigerian region, but they will also benefit tremendously from operating aircraft from the same manufacturer for both single engine and multi-engine training. Fleet commonality offers the college more advantages, such as minimized instructor standardization, rapid student transition and reduced parts inventories."
Out of the 20 DA40 NG, five are twin-engine DA42-VI and 15 are single-engine DA40 NG. One DA42-VI was delivered in 2017
The DA40 NG is an effective training platform for commercial cross-country navigation and instrument approach/landing procedures. Currently more than 2,240 types of this aircraft are in worldwide operations