November 29, (THEWILL) – The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, on Tuesday, disclosed that a lot of airlines didn’t survive Covid-19 globally and that some are still being affected by the impact.
He also stated that when the industry thought they were recovering, then came issues of foreign exchange, the Jet A1 crisis, which further put the industry in a very difficult situation.
Capt Nuhu, who spoke on the safety levels of airlines operating in Nigeria, during a chat with newsmen, assured that the regulatory agency is doing its best to ensure that there is continuous safety in the air, adding that “we ensure compliance with all our regulations and recommended practices.
“We work together with the industry to see how we can assist, help the industry, but the truth of the matter is that the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic did not only put the airlines in a difficult situation but exposed a lot of fractions within the system. A lot of airlines didn’t globally survive Covid-19 and some are still being affected by the impact of Covid-19”, he added.
He, however, stressed that airlines are trying under difficult circumstances, a situation that has increased their workload to continue the surveillance to ensure that safety margins are adhered to.
On the resumption of passenger flight operations by Aero Contractors, the DG confirmed that Nigeria’s oldest airline, was not grounded based on safety issues, but rather carried out an audit.
According to him, whatever audit you do, you are bound to have findings, which in the case of Aero Contractors, were all minor findings.
He said, “There were no Level 1, 2, 3 findings. They were very insignificant. We notified them. We audited them and we found out that the issue they had was financial sustainability.”
The DG emphasised that aviation is safety sensitive and whenever you have financial difficulty, it is just a matter of time.
He pointed out that in situations when airlines are not able to comply with all the regulatory requirements, some may start cutting corners.
“So, before the financial issue becomes a safety issue, we had a discussion with them, and they on their own, before we took any action, agreed with our findings and suspended their operations to enable them to reorganise and get some funding to get more equipment. That is what they have done, we sat with them, they submitted, we asked for projection, which they did, and we reviewed. The first one wasn’t good enough, they had to go and review it and it was quite satisfactory.”
Capt Nuhu also informed that the agency had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aero Contractors for payment of the outstanding 5 percent on the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).
“So, they are fine. As far as we are concerned, they can resume operations”, he added
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
