…Suspends licenses, imposes fines
To ensure that Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] are strictly followed; the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has sanctioned four erring operators for various degrees of violations.
The affected operators, whose identities are withheld, were among those operating both scheduled and non scheduled flights in the country.
Their punishments ranged from suspension of Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of one of them, for six months to imposition of fines.
In a statement signed and made available to African Business Travel News (ABTN) by the spokesman of the regulatory authority, Sam Adurogboye said the violations were detected during “a spot inspection carried out by NCAA Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) on those operators”.
NCAA added that a number of deficiencies, including non implementation of training programmes of maintenance personnel as required, irregularities concerning helicopter flight identification, deliberate violation of the Regulations, performing maintenance programme without necessary approval and using outdated manual, were discovered during the inspection.
The regulatory authority insisted that, “All these findings were found to be in violation of the Regulations”.
It added, “Consequently, the various operators were fined ranging from one million and five hundred thousand naira only to Two million naira only [N1.5m – N2m]. While the operator involved in deliberate violation of the Regulations had its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) suspended for 180 days”.
NCAA has however ensured that the affected personnel in question in the employment of one of the Airlines are trained accordingly, even as it warned that failure to comply with its regulations in the future and violations will be viewed seriously.
