There is growing lack of confidence in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which peaked in 2023 and has aroused the fear that if firm action is not taken, flights may start falling from the skies in 2024.

Stakeholders told THISDAY that the ineffectiveness of NCAA, which caused a lot of challenges in 2023 must be checked to avoid disaster in 2024.

For instance, the Managing Director/CEO of Aero Contractors Captain Ado Sanusi, said as a professional with over three decades operating in the industry, NCAA’s performance last year was nothing to write home about.

“We achieved a lot over the years and I believe we should be building on what we have achieved. Unfortunately, due to the ineffectiveness and reactive nature of our regulators, we there haven’t been any progress. The series of incidence in our airports last year and the regulator’s inability to nip them on the board made some operators feel the regulator was not that effective,” Sanusi said.

“Some of the safety infractions last year led to some incident. In November 2023, a Hawker 800XP aircraft operated by Flint Aero crashed into the bush on landing by past 8:00 pm at the Ibadan airport designated as daylight airport, but investigation showed that the charter service operator and other airlines had been operating into the airport beyond 6:00 pm that the airport was supposed to close for daylight flights.

“Also, in 2023 NCAA issued Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to an airline, NG Eagle, almost a year after the airline carried out demonstration flight under a different management. It also allowed the airline to operate flights with wet leased aircraft when it technically did not have any Nigerian registered aircraft because the three Boeing 737NG it claimed it had, were no more with the airline, according to a court ruling.”

Speaking on recent developments in the industry, Sanusi said: “Well, there are a couple of things we have seen over the years, especially the past one year. We have seen the regulator giving a kind of waivers that have never been given before in the aviation industry. We have seen the regulator giving a license to airlines that have not met the requirements for AOC, a proprietor’s certificate. We have seen the regulator keeping quiet when Air Nigeria was declared that it is ready to fly when it obviously was not ready. We saw the regulator not coming out to say no, it must follow laid out process. So, we have seen the regulator keeping quiet and being complacent when things have been done wrongly. The regulator is not supposed to be politically correct, it is supposed to say the truth. It is supposed to regulate as the case may be. So there are so many things that we have seen in the industry; whether the regulator kept quiet or whether the regulator gave a waiver, whether the regulator did something that made the operators feel, ‘oh, so you can get away with that’. And that’s the reason why I said the regulator was not being proactive, rather it was being reactive.

“Today, you ground airline ‘A’ and tomorrow you say the same airline ‘A’ can fly. Well, in the first instance, why did you ground it without going through a proper investigation in the first place? For example, we have witnessed the reversal of grounding of airplanes. And that sends some kind of unsure signals and political interference in the regulatory agencies. So, that is why I said the regulator was not showing a more proactive stand, rather a reactive stand when an incident has happened. That’s when they come in and ground or wave the big cane on the airlines or the operator.”

Sanusi further said that NCAA’s regulation on minimum of six aircraft was not realistic because the infrastructure to support that regulation was not put in place.

Supporting Sanusi’s view on minimum of six aircraft, another operator and the CEO of Top Brass Aviation Limited, Roland Iyayi, said if airline operator is struggling with only two aircraft, is it six aircraft that will make him viable?

“The policy does not make sense. My conclusion is that the policy was enacted by those who do not have business and investment experience, especially aviation business experience,” Iyayi said.

He explained that if proper investigation was conducted it would be realised that the major reason why airlines do not do well in Nigeria is because of government policies, which are inimical to profitability of airlines in Nigeria.

“If NCAA insists that all airlines must have minimum of six aircraft, I can assure you that in the next 12 months two or three airlines in Nigeria will go under. As a small carrier with two aircraft, an airline can focus on its capacity. It may decide that it will be operators only to Lagos and Enugu. If you have six aircraft it means you will spend more money on the equipment because six aircraft have fixed costs.

“Everyone knows that the cause of flight delay and cancellation is due to poor infrastructure. Are the airlines responsible for bird strike, which incident can condemn aircraft engine and ground it until it is repaired? So, the root causes of airline failure are principally poor infrastructure and government policies,” Iyayi further said.

However, the acting Director of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Chris Najomo, assured that henceforth the agency would show increased commitment to safety, to prioritise training and retraining for the maintenance of Nigeria’s air safety standards.

He gave the assurance during a prayer session with the workers, as they prayed to resume the new year with God’s protection and guidance.

THISDAY also learnt that NCAA is reviewing its activities with intent to mark significant improvement in all technical areas, to become stronger in enforcing its regulation and in the implementation of federal government’s policies in aviation. (THISDAY)

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