The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in reaction to the purported ban of Nigerian airlines from flying to the US has said the carriers can still operate to the US using an aircraft wet-leased from a country on the category one list.
Ag.Director General Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo in a statement confirmed that Nigeria was delisted in September, 2022 because no Nigerian airline has operated to the country in the last two years.
“Also removed from the Category One list were countries who the FAA was not providing technical assistance to based on identified areas of non-compliance to international standards for safety oversight,” Najomo said.
“It is important to clarify here that the de-listing of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in our oversight system. Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concern (SSC) or Significant Security Concern (SSeC) respectively.
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“It is furthermore necessary to add that a Nigerian operator can still operate into the U.S. using an aircraft wet-leased from a country who has a current Category One status,” he said.
A report by Daily Independent on Monday indicated that Nigeria was de-listed about two years ago from the list which has other African countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Morocco, and South Africa.
Daily Trust however reports that Nigeria was removed from the list following a new rule which stipulates that countries that fail to operate to the US for two years would be delisted.
It was learnt that the new law took effect a few months ago.
By implication, Air Peace and United Airlines that have been designated to fly to the US would not be able to operate until Nigeria undergoes a recertification to regain the Category 1 status.
The recertification is a rigorous process encompassing airport security audit, airport facilitation, airline audit and the type of aircraft to be used for the operations to the US by the designated airlines.
General Secretary of the Aviation Roundtable and Safety Initiative, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo said, “I think we should just prepare for the audit and that audit will come when we have an airline that is ready to start US operation and that should help us. We need to ensure we work assiduously to retain category one and not be downgraded. Delisting is better than downgrading. Delisting is an opportunity to quickly look at the areas of interest, and begin to address key concerns before they come for the audit.”
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