Aviation

Why we suspended Azman Airline – NCAA

By Ezurike Ugochukwu & Obinna Nnorom

The Management of Azman Air Limited headquarters in Kano has confirmed the suspension order of the airline from flying by the Aviation industry regulator, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

NCAA suspended the airline Tuesday morning following series of incidents involving the Airline ranging from operational lapses failure to comply with aviation safety guidelines, protection of passengers’ rights and the need to conduct proper audit of the airline.

The NCAA suspended the operations of all the Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Azman Air Limited.

According to the statement signed by Musa Nuhu, the Director-General of NCAA, and made available to Nation Update, 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.

Nuhu

This as stated by Nuhu was to enable the authority conduct an audit of the airline to determine the root cause(s) of the incidents and recommend corrective actions to forestall recurrence.

“NCAA regrets the inconvenience this action may cause the public, particularly to Azman air passengers, but the need to ensure the safety of air transport and protect the public interest, cannot be compromised.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority will continue to ensure airlines’ compliance to its regulations in the interest of safety and will view any violation(s) seriously.

It will be recalled that passengers on Azman Air narrowly escaped a fatal crash on Monday when the flight had a tyre burst while landing in Kaduna.

Two weeks ago, a similar incident occurred at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja when an Azman aircraft sustained tyre damage on landing at the airport.

Industry watchers are of the believe that there is need to extend the sanction on other airlines that have abysmally fallen short of standard at this time.

They maintained that there may be a strike action in inevitable if nothing is done as quick as possible especially this time many Nigerians rely on air transportation due to increasing insurgency that has greatly endangered land transportations.