No preferential treatment for new national carrier ― NCAA DG

Musa Nuhu, NCAA MD

The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu has attributed the constant disruption of flights and the subsequent hardships suffered by air travellers across the airports to the stoppage in the supply of aviation fuel by marketers owing to the huge indebtedness of the airlines to the marketers.

This came just as the Director-General has declared that the regulatory agency will not give the upcoming national airline, Nigerian Air any special treatment over other airlines seeking any operational backing from it.

In an interactive session with aviation journalists at the NCAA House at the Murtala Muhammed Airport on Wednesday, the Director-General stated: “Some of the airlines have outstanding debts and the oil marketers want cash from them. As a result of that, they have to go and look for money. That is what has caused most of the delays and flight cancellations you are seeing. I agree that Jet A1 is expensive and scarce in some places”.

While expressing worries over the incessant rise in the cost of Jet A1 which he described as critical to the sector but not being presently refined in the country traced the ongoing hike in the price of the commodity to the Russia-Ukraine conflict which started in February, coupled with the scarcity of Forex scarcity that has hindered free importation of jet fuel.

Presently, the oil marketers are said to have adopted the pay-as-you-go policy that allows them to receive cash from the operators before dispensing fuel into their aircraft as the commodity is said to be available in Lagos and Abuja but scarce in other airports.

Talking about how far the new airline, Nigeria Air had gone in its efforts to obtain the required Air Operators Certificate (AOC) needed to launch it to commercial operations, the NCAA DG stated that the airline had begun the process of getting the critical AOC, saying: “There will be no preferential treatment for Nigeria Air. The airline team has obtained its Air Traffic License having gone through all the requirements. It’s in the process of getting its AOC, if it satisfies all the requirements put on the ground by the NCAA, we will approve it for the airline in line with the same procedures binding on other airlines.”

Nuhu who used the opportunity to speak on the recent suspension of Dana Air and the voluntary suspension of Aero Contractors operations by the management of the airline revealed that the decision to ground Dana over safety issues was based on the need to forestall accidents.

To avoid being caught napping, Nuhu who said the regulatory body had commenced an economic financial audit on three of the eight domestic airlines declared that other airlines will go through the audit in batches.

His words, “We have conducted economic and financial audits on Aero Contractors. When Aero Contractors management came to us, they told us that they planned to suspend their operations. We commend the Aero management for this step.”

On the $40 million trapped funds of the foreign carriers in Nigeria, the NCAA DG said efforts were ongoing between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), ministries of finance, aviation and other relevant agencies to address the issue.

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