Chanchangi, one of the popular airlines in Nigeria, which was rested few years ago, is planning to return to the skies.
The airline has secured the Air Transport Licence (ATL) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to operate scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo services within and outside Nigeria.
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The ATL signed by the NCAA Director-General, Capt. Musa Nuhu, was issued on April 22 for a period of five years.
The planned return comes four years after the airline’s founder Ahmadu Chanchangi, died on April 19, 2017.
He had set up the airline on January 5, 1994, but the airline suspended operations in 2012 after going through some operational turbulence resulting in the depletion of its aircraft from six to two.
But the airline is set to stage a return with the ATL certification, which is preparatory to the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), which would enable the airline to resume flight operations.
The ATL certification letter sighted by our correspondent Thursday read: “A licence to operate scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo services within and outside Nigeria is hereby granted pursuant to Section 18.2.2.4 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations 2015.
“The utilization of this licence shall be in compliance with all Civil Aviation Regulations.”
Prior to the issuance of the ATL, the DG had confirmed the planned return of the airline among other carriers that are in different stages of AOC process.
He said more airlines are getting the business right by using the right type of equipment like the smaller, fuel efficient planes such as Embraer, ATR, among others.
“People are beginning to realise you can’t use Boeing 737 aircraft for short flights. I can see Air Peace had got E-195s, it has gotten two and he said on the long term, he is going to replace all its B737. United Nigeria is using Embraer 145. Green Africa is using ATR 42, 72.
“Chanchangi wants to come back and they want to use ATR. They are planning to come back. The demand is there.
“The thinking is changing because this B737 business is not working for us. It is going to take a while. The economics is forcing the change.”
