Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has given reasons for the it suspended the Air Transport Licence (ATL) of Azman Air.
Speaking on telephone conversation with Aviation journalists on Thursday, Director General of NCAA, Capt Musa Nuhu explained it was due to the expiration of the airline’s Air Transport Licence ( ATL) and failure of the airline to pay remit the sum of N1.2 billion it collected on behalf of the industry to the appropriate coffers.
Nuhu said that the N1.2 billion debt was the revenue accrued from the 5 per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) collected by the airline on behalf of five agencies in the industry from the air travellers.
The TSC/CSC is pooled together and shared among: NCAA, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
While NCAA gets 58 per from the total 5 per cent of TSC/CSC as its the major revenue earning, the other four agencies share the remaining 42 per cent among themselves.
According to the Director General, the regulatory agency had made several efforts to recover the debt from the airline over the years, but the carrier was recalcitrant at refunding the sum despite collecting it from the passengers.
It would be recalled that Azman Air commenced scheduled operations in 2014.
Though the regulatory Authority claimed it has not suspended the Air Operator Certificate ( AOC) of the airline, but industry best practices explained that the withdrawal of the airline’s ATL renders the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) invalid because it is a prerequisite for having the later.
Nuhu told journalists that NCAA had held series of meeting with Management of Azman Air on how to pay back the debt, but both parties failed to reach an agreement.
For instance, he explained that the management of the airline had promised to pay back the sum of N10 million monthly as part of the N1.2 billion debt, but said the regulatory body insisted on N50 million monthly from the airline.
Besides, he emphasised that the airline could not provide its security clearance, which is one of the prerequisites requirements for renewal of ATL.
He said: “We didn’t suspend Azman Air’s AOC, but suspended their ATL, which had earlier expired. The ATL earlier expired in April 2021, but we gave the airline extension because of the disruption to aviation activities by the Cocid-19 pandemic, just as we did for other airlines, too. However, we wrote a reminder letter to the airline six months to the new expiring date, which is statutory.
“Later, the airline requested for another extension of 90 days, but we only granted it 60 days and at the expiration of the 60 days, we also gave it 30 days reminder, which elapsed on Wednesday night, yet nothing was done by the airline.
“Besides, the airline owed us N1.2 billion as TSC/CSC. We invited them, set up a committee for that purpose. Azman said they would pay the sum of N10 million monthly out of the debt, which we refused. They later came up to N20 million, but we insist on N50 million monthly. If we had agreed to the payment of N10 million monthly, it means it will take the airline about 12 years to repay back the money it had already collected and by then, the money would have lost value.”
Nuhu who further threatened that the ATL or AOC of any other airline that owed the agency 5 per cent TSC/CSC would not be renewed henceforth, appealed to other carriers to pay up the backlog of their debts.
