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NASI
faults suspension of airlines’ licences
By Dan Alo
Correspondent
and Shola Ogunode
Aviation Reporter, Lagos
The Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) has called on the Aviation Ministry to review its suspension of the air operators certificates (AOCs) of two private airline operators, Slok and IRS Airlines.
It also called on the National Assembly to initiate the amendment of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Act with a view to granting full autonomy to the regulatory agency.
The ministry suspended the licences last week, citing breach of operation guidelines.
Slok, based in Owerri, began operation on January 27 and is being penalised for unethical practices, yet unspecified, contrary to the terms of its licence.
IRS is accused of destroying an instrument landing system (ILS) equipment at Kaduna Airport while one of its aircraft was taking off on a flight to Jeddah for the 2004 Hajj.
Reacting to the developments, NASI Executive Director, Jerry Agbeyegbe, said: "With regards to the sanction against IRS Airlines, it is certainly not the first time that airliners would make unscheduled contact with navigational aids during flight operations.
"It is on record that a couple of years ago, a Nigerian Airways DC-10 aircraft, taking off from the Kano International Airport for Jeddah, damaged and severed part of an antenna, Nigeria Airways was not grounded nor was there any sanction against the airline or the crew."
He also referred to an incident, "barely weeks before the EAS Kano crash on May 4, 2002," when an Albarka Airlines plane, taking off from the same Kano Airport, damaged and ripped off sections of a localiser antenna, over which neither the airline nor the affected aircraft and crew was grounded or penalised.
He called on the ministry to show that the handling of the issue is unconnected with an agenda he described as "political vendetta," targeted at Slok with IRS being a "victim of circumstance" used as a smokes screen to justify the action against Slok.
Observers believe that the clamp down on Slok may be connected with the face off between Abia State Governor,
Orji Uzor Kalu, and some powerful members of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Kalu allegedly owns shares in the airline.
Slok Air has described the withdrawal of the AOC as a shocking development.
Senior officials of the new airline, which has operated local routes for only 42 days, and has warmed itself into the hearts of the flying public, were seen Sunday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport pacifying passengers enraged by the cancellation of its flights.
They pleaded that "the airline will be back in the air soon."
The officials, who preferred anonymity, said in an interview: "The apex regulatory body in the aviation sub sector, NCAA, has never written the airline for violating any safety or security standard procedures or recommended practices in its 42 days of operating as an airline in the Nigerian airspace, so the AOC withdrawal comes as a shock.
"Before issuing out the air operators certificate, NCAA carried out all the mandatory checks on all our equipment and manpower, including operational procedures, aircraft which their report certified as one of the youngest fleet in the country."
According to the officials, Slok is the first local airline to connect 13 cities, duly applied for and granted based on its capability to operate the routes.
They added: "Slok Air is an assemblage of seasoned professionals and businessmen and it is not owned by Orji Kalu as claimed by many. He may be an investor in the airline, but he is not on the board and has never held any position in the airline."
In his reaction, former Chief Security Officer at the airport, Mr. Ade Oni said: "It is bad when we politicise issues relating to aviation. There are 90 days minimum of mandatory checks before an AOC is given and if Slok has just operated 42 days and NCAA has quickly discovered safety and security violations in their operations it then means that they did not conduct proper checks in the first place before the AOC was issued."