Tag: NCAA

  • Abuja airport runway 99 per cent  completed, says NCAA

    Abuja airport runway 99 per cent completed, says NCAA

    The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman, has said the Nnamdi Azikiwe International  Airport, Abuja runway project  is 99 per cent completed.
    Usman, in a statement by the Media Consultant to the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr Ariyo Akinfenwa, after carrying out an audit on the runway, said: ”Today, NCAA with the airport owner, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), conducted an inspection.
    “We saw that the job has been done well up to at least 99 per cent completion. We believe the remaining work will be completed on or before the official opening date.”
    He said what was found during the audit were items not critical to safety and would not stop the reopening of the airport scheduled for tomorrow.
    “The findings have been communicated to the owner of the airport, FAAN. We are expecting a corrective action plan that will come with timelines that will address the issues.
    “But as I mentioned earlier, those items we found are not safety critical and cannot affect the opening.
    “The job has been well-done. The technology employed is the latest and we believe Nigerians will be happy,” Usman said.
    Responding, the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr Saleh Dunoma, said the items identified by NCAA would be corrected in accordance with the agreed action plan and timeline.
    Dunoma said :”The inspection has been conducted. Since the beginning of the project, this is the major inspection that was conducted.
    “We have been working in collaboration with the NCAA, but of course we have to adhere to procedures and the procedure is that after the completion or near completion of the project, an inspection will be conducted.
    “ The inspection will have to be conducted by both our engineers from NCAA, FAAN , the consultant and the contractors. They have made some findings just like the DG has said, they are not safety critical.
    “It is normal after huge project like this, such findings will be there. All we need to do is to adhere to the procedure, which means we have to respond to those findings by writing to the NCAA our action plan and timeline.
    “This will be submitted immediately. We will work together with contractor to make sure that all these findings are corrected within the timelines that we are going to agree with NCAA.
    “And of course, after the final inspection will be conducted then, we believe we will be given a clean bill of health by the NCAA,” he said.
    On his part, an official of Julius Berger who was part of the inspection, Dr Lars Richter, expressed satisfaction with the level of completion of the project.
    He said : ”We are really proud to be part of this project. It was quite a bit challenging to finish the project within six weeks.
    “At the beginning, everybody in Nigeria was concerned. Not everybody was happy that the airport was closed for six weeks.
    “ But we, together with FAAN, the contractors have delivered the runway within six weeks and it was a good cooperation because the task was really tight.
    “At the end of this inspection, everybody could see the proof that the runway is finished. The runway is delivered on the highest quality. We can say for the next ten years, it will remain there of course with good maintenance.”
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Abuja airport was shut on March 8 for six weeks to enable Julius Berger carry put complete rehabilitation of the 3.6 kilometres runway.
    The runway, which was constructed in 1982, was meant to last for 20 years, but had been in use for 35 years without major repair and proper maintenance.

  • Operators demand audit of NCAA’s books

    airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has called for an independent audit of the N15 billion it allegedly  owes the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The debt was said to have accrued from five per cent Ticket Sales Charge ( TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC).

    The AON, an umbrella body of domestic airlines, said it was ready to foot the bill of the independent audit. It also said it would be favourably disposed to the inclusion of reputable firms such as KPMG, PricewaterCoopers or Deloitte and Touché in the audit.

    In a statement by its Executive Chairman, Captain Nogie Meggison , AON said it will appreciate an opportunity for  the NCAA to open its books for scrutiny. Meggison said the figure being bandied by the NCAA was a gross misrepresentation of what domestic carriers owed the regulator, and accused the NCAA of trying to blackmail domestic carriers with the figure thrown around by the authority.

    According to AON helmsman, the figure made by NCAA showed that airlines either taken over by the government or that have ceased to operate owed the bulk of the alleged debt.

    “The recently published breakdown of what airlines owe of each passenger is completely wrong and false. Airlines don’t pay monthly fixed rate. The rate is a percentage of the fare paid. Besides, how can an airline like Arik Air with 27 airplanes have a fixed monthly remittance rate of N61,477,779.69 and Air Peace with an average of  five airplanes pay N109,862,633.84 monthly? At what rate were these figures calculated to get a fixed amount?” Megisson queried.

    He explained that from the phantom breakdown mentioned 80 per cent  of the bills were from airlines that were either out of operation or in receivership with the government.  Moreover, a couple of the airlines that make up the phantom numbers, like  Cronos and Africa World Airlines (AWA),  are not Nigerian registered airlines.

    “It is obvious that the phantom numbers cannot add up. The airlines are working and struggling to stay afloat in a harsh terrain and made to bear the sin of others. The NCAA should come out with a true picture of things.

    “AON, therefore, challenges the NCAA to come open with the breakdown of how it arrived at the phantom bill of N15bn and publish the details of the airlines and what they owe. Perhaps doing so would erase the negative impression being fed the public as it will reveal that the money they claim airlines owe that have now either been taken over by the government (AMCON) or is a historic debt owed majorly by airlines that have gone out of business over the years due to the harsh environment, unfriendly polices and the continued burden of multiple charges or  falsified account that can’t stand the test of an external audit or a law court trial,” Meggison said

    The AON boss argued that airlines owing in Nigeria is not unprecedented anywhere in the world. According to him, what matters is that whatever is owed is being serviced. Stressing his point, he said most of the current and active 29 AOC operating airlines are servicing their debts as agreed between themselves and the relevant agencies after the usual reconciliations.

    “AON hereby further offers to pay for an independent auditing firm at its own expense to audit NCAA as an organisation, and the N15bn NCAA claims airlines owe. We, therefore, encourage the NCAA to take advantage of this offer and open its books for this audit to take place. So, the general public, which we believe have been misinformed, will get the true picture of the real situation. The exaggeration by the NCAA is tarnishing to the good image of the airlines and as such, AON is unhappy with this unfortunate, damaging and misleading pronouncement by the NCAA,”  he said.

  • Union accuses airlines of depriving NCAA of N15b funds

    Union accuses airlines of depriving NCAA of N15b funds

    Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) has accused domestic airlines of  conniving to deny the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other agencies of their statutory funds.The airlines,the union claimed, have not  remitted over N15 billion collected as ticket sales charge. The other agencies are the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Meteorological Agency and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

    ATSSSAN  President Comrade Ahmadu Illitrus said in Lagos,  that the association would not fold its arms and allow the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) mislead Nigerians about the state of their indebtedness to aviation agencies.

    He said allegations by indigenous operators that NCAA was “preying on” them through five per cent ticket sales charge was a misrepresentation of the state of the industry.

    Illitrus said: “What we have witnessed over the years was that the domestic airlines, which  are members of Airline Operators of Nigeria and non-members alike, collect five per cent ticket sales charge from passengers and refuse to remit to NCAA. They even remit only a negligible percentage of the money and illegally utilise the larger unremitted percentage. This ugly development is creating a huge deficit of unremitted portion of money.”

    He said calls for the cancellation of the five per cent ticket sales charge by AON members was outdated because such call negates the philosophy of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for financial autonomy of civil aviation authorities.

    He said if AON has another source of funding for the NCAA, ATSSSAN will welcome such proposal.

    The union boss said: “If we may ask, in what way has the regime of the five per cent ticket sales charge affected the negative operation or survival of indigenous airlines, who actually collect the charge from passengers and pocket it? Today, domestic airlines have illegally coveted over 15 billion Naira accruing as five per cent of ticket sales charge.”

    He described as baseless accusation by AON that the NCAA discriminated against domestic carriers in fixing five per cent of the ticket sales charge as opposed to what foreign carriers pay.

    Illitrus said instead of chastising aviation agencies for putting in place measures to recover their funds, AON should be bold enough to admit that its members have behaved unprofessionally over the years and advise them to remit the money in their possession.

    Meanwhile, the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and prosecute debtor airline operators. Domestic carriers owe NCAA over N15 billion.

    ANAP’s Secretary-General, Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu, described the airlines’ action as an economic offence that should not be left unchecked, adding that the attitude of debtor airlines was responsible for the myriad of challenges affecting the sector.

    Saidu called on the EFCC to wade into the matter. “This money they owe is stealing by trick of public funds. Air travelers pay five per cent ticket sales charge , the money has never been a tax to any airline as some of them will erroneously make people to believe.”

  • Much ado about automation of revenue collection

    Much ado about automation of revenue collection

    Domestic carriers and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) are bickering over the automation of collection and remittance of the statutory five per cent ticket/cargo sales charges paid by the operators. According to them, there is more to it than meets the eyes in the project’s implementation, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR, reports.

    These are not the best of times for domestic airline operators. Apart from losses they are incurring from the temporary closure of the Abuja Airport, they  are grappling with lower passenger traffic on many routes.

    The regulator is planning to wield the big stick  on erring operators. They risk being sanctioned for failure to comply with the deadline issued by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to automate the collection and remittance of the statutory five percent Ticket/Cargo Sales Charge ( TSC/CSC).

    The automation is a fall out of the  Aviation Revenue Automation Project (ARAP) for revenue collection introduced a few years ago .

    According to the NCAA, the project was introduced to  aid data integrity, transparency, transaction accountability, controls and revenue assurance to the authority.

    Last year,  the NCAA set January 31, 2017 as deadline for airlines to comply with the new measure, but it extended it by three months at the instance of the Airline Operators of Nigeria at a meeting with the Director General,Captain Mukhtar Usman.

    But, the new deadline, March 31, 2017 expired last week, as the NCAA threatened to sanction airlines that failed to comply with the regulation.

    In a statement last week, spokesman of NCAA, Sam Adurogboye said with the expiration of the deadline and final warning , airlines were expected to adhere to  automation and remit the collected revenue to the regulatory authority.

    His words: “Failure to comply will be viewed seriously as the authority will be forced to invoke the necessary provisions of the law against defaulting airlines.”

    Five per cent ticket and cargo sales charge, according to Adurogboye, is not a tax or levy on airlines but a charge paid by passengers for services rendered towards the development of aviation in Nigeria.

    The charge, he said, is enshrined in the Civil Aviation Act of 2006.

    The decision to collect the charges by the airlines, he reiterated, was mooted by the operators and unanimously agreed upon at the 2001 Civil Policy Review with the sole aim to enhance passengers’ facilitation.

    Usman clarified : “Let me state that the TSC and CSC are collected at source from passengers by airlines on behalf of the Federal Government, to enable all aviation agencies tackle safety critical issues as they arise to engender safe, secure and efficient air transportation and allied services for the overall benefits of all stakeholders’’.

    But, the AON has called for the suspension of automation of revenue remittance by airlines to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) until the parameters that constitute the  five per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charge are clearly and properly defined.

    AON Chairman,Captain Nogie Meggison said : “AON has no problem with the authority going ahead to automate the collection and remittance of the said charges, but that the NCAA needs to give clarification on what constitutes the five per cent Ticket and Cargo sales Charge.

    TSC, he said,  is  only applicable  on  basic fare in compliance with industry practice and as currently  applicable to international carriers operating out of Nigeria.

    AON members  are currently remitting the  five per cent  TSC charges.

    He said : ” Despite our members improved payment, infrastructure and  service level continue to deteriorate across all facets of the industry under the same authority.

    ” AON also has issues with the immediate mandatory automation without first addressing the cost of integration while sadly at the same time not asking the foreign carriers operating in Nigeria to join the same automation platform and are charged on their base fares.

    “This is wrong and discriminatory and also against International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Non-Discriminatory policy. This recommendation  adopted by the ICAO Council, States are encouraged to incorporate the four key charging principles of non-discrimination, cost-relatedness, transparency and consultation with users into their national legislation, regulation or policies, as well as their future air services agreements.

    “It is apparent that NCAA is preying on domestic airlines, which they see as an easy target, as a cash cow and for cheap publicity, over regulating domestic operators, and pushing domestic airlines to the edge of insolvency and bankruptcy. It is this kind of policy that has reduced the lifespan of Nigerian airlines and have consumed over 25 airlines in the last 30 years since deregulation  began in 1982.

    “While the same NCAA is weak and has turned blind eyes in enforcement of other sectors, runway quality, airport fencing, bird strike, navaids, fuel quality control by oil marketers, poor quality delivery by service providers, this  agency is  inflicting unauthorised and illegal billing  on domestic carriers contrary to the provisions of the 2006            Civil Aviation Act.

    ” AON is tired and cannot continue to be the only soft target or easy prey. We appeal to the NCAA to rather focus their energy on being an enabler and to foster growth in the Nigerian aviation industry in line with their mission statement.

    ‘’ This is to   provide aviation safety and economic regulation in the most efficient, effective, quality and technology driven manner to the satisfaction and benefit of all stakeholders’’.

    He said, while  other West African countries’ airlines operate 24 hours, Nigerian carriers are subjected to daylight operations due to poor airport facilities.

    Meggison said despite the poor airport facilities, charges in Nigerian airports are the highest compared to the billing system in other West African countries.

    He said : “ Sadly also Nigerian airlines are the only mode of transport paying Value Added Tax ( VAT) . Marine, road and rail transport don’t pay; and even the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria are exempted from paying VAT in Nigeria.”

    The AON Chairman said  during a meeting with the  NCAA, the authority  had agreed to look into the matter by considering using a flat rate that is tied to the United States dollar as a possible way of addressing the issue.

    This , he said, is related  to what FAAN does with the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) , and the normal  method of billing  in most parts of the world.’

    Meggison said :”To this end therefore, the ultimatum issued by the NCAA to operators can’t be said to have been done in good faith, because the authority was yet to respond to the issues raised on the matter in previous meetings between NCAA and AON where both parties had agreed.

    “The Nigerian Civil Aviation ACT 2006 prescribes the need to carry out periodic review of the Air Ticket and Cargo Sales charge in consultation with stakeholders. However, the one sided implementation of the law whereby stakeholders are not consulted before decisions are reached does not augur well for the growth of the industry.

    He said there is need for the NCAA to be transparent with the process of reviewing the collection of the five per cent charge, as the AON would prefer the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to drive the implementation of the automation and collection of the charge for the authority.

    Such methodology , he said is the global practice.

    Meggison also raised concerns over the   third party firm commissioned by NCAA to do the collection.

    He said :  “For over 10 years NCAA has operated the legislation on the collection of  five  ticket sales charge and has not deemed it fit for a review as provided for in the laws. Sadly however, in the last review of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations ( NCAR ) 2006, the issue was not addressed in spite of calls then by airlines to review the charge.

    “AON wishes to make it clear that we are not against automation. However, we seek clarity on these and other issues tabled before the director general during our meeting of which he agreed to look into our concerns and consider the option of charging a flat rate but tying it to the dollar to take care of fluctuations. This was a promise the director general  made during the meeting with AON.

    “Unfortunately, while we awaited the agreed implementation, we were surprised that to the contrary NCAA went ahead to  issue a statement giving ultimatum and threatening to sanction airlines.”

    He said the action of the NCAA was in gross violation of relevant sections of the civil aviation Act of 2006.

    He said: “The Act prescribes that  Air Ticket and Cargo Sales charge may be reviewed by the authority in consultation with the stakeholders from time to time.

    “The direct consequence of this being that there is no mechanism for a review of the  five per cent  Charge and there has never been a review .

    “AON therefore kindly requests that the automation of the collection of the  five per cent  charge by airlines be suspended until a mechanism is put in place to give effect to the  2006 Civil Aviation Act.

    “ Airlines are always eager to be part of the required consultations before amendments are made but unfortunately this has so far not been the case, as our members are usually left in the dark while expected to only comply with changes or amendments with unfair deadlines.

    “The Director General  will agree with us that in costing our ticket fares, the criteria must be certain and known so that the general travelling public whom we are all in business to serve do not undergo undue disadvantage and NCAA also is  not short changed.”

  • NCAA issues AOC to Genesis Aviation

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) to Genesis Global Aviation to operate full charter helicopter services.

    The certificate was issued after the company had satisfied all the regulatory requirements and gone through thorough screening.

    Speaking in Lagos after receiving the AOC, the company’s chairman, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, said getting the certification was a major milestone for the company.

    He expressed confidence in the Nigerian economy despite the fact that so many companies had fizzled out.

    He said although lots of players in the aviation industry had crashed out “it has not changed the situation that requires helicopter services”.

    “Whether it is in respect of offshore service delivery or emergency medical evacuation or general logistics of moving people and personnel from one point to the other, there is requirement for helicopter services.

    “I think, really, people should doff their hats for us that we are not quitting. We are absolutely standing there because we really believe in the resilience of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

    He added: “What we are witnessing is just a dip for the time being and we believe that there is bound to be a rebound at some point in time. The future belongs to those who dare; he who dares wins.”

    Iheanacho said it was a herculean task to get the AOC because of the rigorous processes involved.

    “The AOC is a wonderful achievement in my own opinion. We have been in the business for more than two years and it has been a very hard and arduous journey to being where we are today.

    “There are five stages of the AOC and you have to go through vigorous examinations; standards to meet, understanding the rules, and so many other things.

    “You have to go through a rigorous examination. The registration of the company was accomplished in April 2015 and since then we have gone through one approval process after another, all towards obtaining the commercial airline certification status. It has not been an easy process,” he added.

    He was, however, elated that the company satisfied all the regulatory requirements.

    “We have now convinced the regulatory authority that we have now met the standard for offering commercial services for whosoever may require.

    “Today marks the beginning of our real journey into commercial aviation of delivering unrivalled safe, comfortable and reliable services to our perspective  clients and the flying public.

    “We are poised to deliver safe, qualitative and cost effective commercial helicopter services to the general public, including offshore oil industry service providers, EMS service operators, line surveillance operators, and so on

    “We look forward to the task of growing Genesis Global Aviation Ltd to the highest international civil aviation, oil and gas and helicopter charter industry standards, where our goal is to become the foremost player,” he said.

    Iheanacho said the company owns and operates six Eurocopter EC 155B helicopters “while plans are afoot to acquire additional rotary assets to enhance service delivery”.

  • NCAA sanctions airline N6.5m for airspace violation

    NCAA sanctions airline N6.5m for airspace violation

    The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has applied sanction on Lyxor International, a non-schedule general aviation operator.

    Spokesman of the authority Sam Adurogboye, who said this yesterday, added that the action followed the operator’s several violations of the terms of its approved flight clearances for non-scheduled international air services.

    According to the letter of sanction written to the airline, NCAA’s Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) on February 16 found the airline culpable  of infraction  during a routine Ramp Inspection of its Bombardier Challenger CL605 aircraft.

    The NCAA said upon the discovery, the aircraft with registration mark T7-YES was immediately grounded by the Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International   Airport, (NAIA), Abuja.

    However, the aircraft was subsequently released after the payment of N3,000,000 on volitional condition on account of possible civil sanction. This was in addition to an undertaken to comply with any sanction applicable as a result of the violation.

  • How to sustain NCAA’s autonomy, by experts

    Experts in the aviation sector have advised the Federal Government to ensure that airlines do not interfere with the oversight duties of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

    Speaking during Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) in Lagos, the experts including former Director-General of the NCAA, Harold Demuren, said autonomy of the regulatory body without political interference is key to the achievement of air safety.

    Demuren said the NCAA should be independent because every decision taken by the regulator has major effects in the industry.

    He said the best way to achieve this is for the regulator not to give room for compromise and hinged the failures of some airlines and airports to poor safety planning and financial regulations

    Demuren lamented that when he was head of the NCAA, a minister tried to influence him into taking certain decisions that may have been detrimental to air safety, adding that he resisted the move in the interest of the industry.

    Also, Director, Legal Services, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Anastasia Gbem, said  NCAA’s autonomy according to legal provisions is not only mandated to make safety regulations, but must not subject such regulations to the approval of other people.

    Gbem said NCAA’s responsibility is also to ensure that relevant stakeholders, such as airport operators, NAMA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) implement the components of their activities.

    “ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) does not bother itself with political appointees but with the executive head and the operatives like the inspectors and instructors. That does not mean the appointments have met the statutory requirements of the civil aviation Act 2006,” he said.

  • Kaduna airport ready for 24-hour operations – NCAA

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said the Kaduna International Airport is now fit and ready for 24-hour operations.

    The General Manager, Public Affairs of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye , said in Lagos on Tuesday that the airport was ready for local and international flights.

    Adurogboye explained that all necessary steps to ensure that the status of the airport as an alternative airport to the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport during the closure had been taken.

    The Federal Government had announced the closure of the Abuja airport effective from midnight of Wednesday to allow for extensive repairs on the runway.

    The NCAA official assured all passengers of safety and security in all airports in the country.

    He said, “The navigational aids have been well calibrated and fully functional to facilitate continuous smooth landings and takeoffs.

    “Therefore, towards a seamless flight operations in line with Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) all relevant departments and directorates with full complement of staff have been redeployed to Kaduna.”

    Adurogboye said the Regional Managers of NCAA for Abuja and Kaduna offices were on ground to allow for smooth integration of the additional staff coming to Kaduna.

     

  • Why we collect ticket sales charge, by NCAA 

    Why we collect ticket sales charge, by NCAA 

    NIGERIAN Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has berated domestic airlines over what it described as misinformation about the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).

    Its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said the tax was a charge on passengers collected in trust by the airlines for remittance to the government to ensure facilitation at the airports.

    Adurogboye said the regulatory body also frowned at what he called airlines ploy to make people believe that taxes are only synonymous with the business environment. He said what many domestic carriers regard as multiple charges were already in existence before they  started operations.

    ”The business is highly capital-intensive. There is no operator that did not know about the charges before they commenced operations; nothing new has been added. Five per cent ticket sales charge is not paid to NCAA by the airlines as tax, it is a charge added to the passengers determined airfare. When passengers pay five percent how does it become a charge?” he asked rhetorically.

    Adurogboye said the airlines brought up the idea that to enhance passengers’ facilitation at the airport, they will collect the five percent on behalf of NCAA, after which the money will be remitted to the authority. The agreement, he said, was reached in 2001.

    He said the money from the remittances forms part of financial  sustenance of the NCAA. Adurogboye further explained that for the regulator to be autonomous, it needs to source its funding autonomously.

    “We had to compare what obtains in Canada, United States, South Africa and other places, all CAA are meant to be autonomous and it cannot be autonomous if we are not financially autonomous. We exist because of the safety of passengers and the passengers pay for the CAA to run. The day they say government should start giving us money, then we become non-autonomous. The five percent ticket sales charge is in the act passed by National Assembly. If not for the foreign airlines that pay as and when due, they( domestic airlines) would have grounded NCAA in Nigeria’’.

    On the accusation of multiple taxes by the agency and how they are crippling airlines’ business,  the  NCAA spokesman said that there is no country where charges were not present and that even some of those charges were not charged in Nigeria.

    ‘’There is no country where there are no charges, whether landing, parking, overflying, amongst others. There are some charges that we are not charging in Nigeria, such as hotel, task, tourism development.”

    He attributed the dwindling number of airlines in the country to a lack of  corporate governance and that the NCAA was carrying out its responsibility that was why the numbers kept going down.At the time NCAA started in January year 2000, we had about 150 airlines in our register. In 2006, they came down to 28, the rest went under. It was not because NCAA didn’t do their regulation well? At a point, the number reduced to 12 and today we have eight airlines. It is because we do what we need to do that is why those who have to fissle out will naturally fissle out.”

    ”There are airlines you get to know their source through corporate governance. It is not about the number of aircraft you have or whether it is brand new, it is whether you run your business the way it should be run. It is within the purview of the investor to get the right person to do the job and once it is done, you will prosper in it. There are airlines that are running domestic operations that we send commendation letters to for doing the right thing. There are airlines that pay their bills as and  when due. There are still those who do the right things. You run airlines using the right equipment for the right operations. You need to prepare and invest on the route, you need to know yourself and what you have passion for. You also need to know the problem you want to solve. You go into business because you want to solve a problem and because you have passion for it. “

  • Fed Govt appoints new directors  for NCAA

    Fed Govt appoints new directors for NCAA

    THE Federal Government has approved the appointment of five new directors and one general manager for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
    They are: Group Captain Edem Oyo-Ita as director of Air Transport Regulations (DATR); Ahmed Abbas Sanusi as director, Human Resources and Administration (DHR & ADMIN); and Bilikisu Adamu Sani, director of Finance and Accounts (DFA ).
    Odunowo Tayyib Adetunji was appointed director of Aerodrome and Airspace Standards (DAAS).
    Others are Ita Awak, an engineer, as director of Airworthiness Standards (DAWS).
    Lawrence Mathew Kwajok was appointed general manager, Air Navigational Standards (ANS).
    According to NCAA spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, the appointments are with immediate effect.
    Seven directors were on Friday fired from the authority.