Why FG postponed date for flight resumption

The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, says the June 21 date earlier fixed for the resumption of domestic flights is no longer feasible.

He said this on Thursday in Abuja at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

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He said: “The NCAA will not approve the start of operations until we’re sure and we confirm we’re ready to start in a safe, secure and organized manner. To do otherwise would be disastrous for all of us.

“We’re going to go to operators to verify what they’ve given to us as their restart plan. A lot of the service providers have provided very good documents, while some provided inadequate documents which were sent back to them.

“Significant progress has been made, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. We’ve to implement systems to ensure the aviation sector is not a venture for mass transmission of coronavirus.

“If we open the industry when we’re not ready and we’re guilty of spreading coronavirus, God forbid, we have any incident, I believe the government will come hard on us and it’s going to be counterproductive and disastrous for the industry.

“We are not too far, we are close, but there’s a need for timing to ensure we’re ready, positively, absolutely ready to start work.”

He said inputs were also being received from the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the World Health Organisation, the International Air Transport Association, the Airport Council International and the African Civil Aviation Commission.

“We’re looking towards the end of this month. Hopefully, by the end of next week, we’ll submit a report through the Ministry of Aviation to the Presidential Task Force for review.

“We know the industry is anxious, but to do otherwise will be a great disservice and neglect of our statutory mandate from the government of Nigeria,” he said.

In a related development, the Senate Committee on Aviation has asked the Federal Government to suspend the planned reopening of the sector.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Smart Adeyemi, after an emergency meeting with union leaders in the sector yesterday, said based on issues raised by stakeholders as regards safety and security, the planned resumption of flights should be postponed.