FG Grounds Azman Air’s Operations

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the Air Transport (ATL) License of Azman Airlines. Consequently, the airline’s flight operations have been grounded until further notice.

 Dana Airlines’ ATL and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) were suspended indefinitely by the NCAA with effect from July 20, 2022 over its inability to run safe operations.

Also, Aero Contractors in July, 2022, announced indefinite suspension of its operations, citing depletion of aircraft to run scheduled commercial services, owing to financial crisis.

Although Azman Air was said to have told its workforce not to show up for work today (Thursday) claiming it was for operational reasons; the Director General, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu told journalists that the operations of the airline had been grounded for failure to renew its ATL despite several reminders.

He further explained that the airline’s ATL expired in 2021 and it made an appeal for 90 days extension which was granted followed by another 30 days which expired on Wednesday September 14, 2022.

Nuhu also disclosed that Azman airline owes the NCAA N1.2 billion of unremitted Passenger Service Charge (PSC) and Cargo Service Charge (CSC), insisting until payment was made, the airline’s ATL would not be renewed.

According to Nuhu, all the airlines indebted to the NCAA were urged to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the amount to be paid monthly to offset their debts but unfortunately, Azman air was yet to sign its before the expiration of its ATL.

Following a series of incidents involving Azman Air Boeing 737 aircraft, the NCAA last year,  suspended the operations of all the Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Azman Air Services Limited, with effect from March 15, 2021.

This was contained in a statement signed by Musa Nuhu, director-general of NCAA, and made available to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.

Nuhu said the suspension was pursuant to Section 35 (2) of the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 and Part 1.3.3.3 (A) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015.

He said the suspension was to enable the authority to conduct an audit of the airline to determine the root cause(s) of the incidents and recommend corrective actions to forestall recurrence.