By Amofokhai Williams
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Tuesday said it suspended the services of three private jet operators for illegally operating commercial flights.
Captain Chris Ona Najomo, Acting Director General of NCAA, in a statement said back in 2023, the use of private jets for commercial purposes had gotten the attention of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who issued marching orders for the cessation of such acts.
The Alarmee reports that Najomo was silent on the name of the three jet operators whose services were suspended.
He said subsequently, in March 2024, the NCAA had issued a stern warning to holders of the Permit for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) against engaging in the carriage of passenger cargo or mail for hire and reward.
Najomo added that the Authority had also deployed its officials to monitor activities of private jets at terminals across the airports in Nigeria and that as a consequence of this heightened surveillance, no fewer than three private operators had been found to be involved in violation of the annexure provision of their PNCF and Part 91.14 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
“In line with our zero tolerance for violation of regulations, the Authority has suspended the PNCF of these operators. To further sanitize the general aviation sector, I have directed that’s a re-evaluation of all holders of PNCF be carried carried out on or before the 19th of April 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.
“All PNCF holder will be required to submit relevant documents to the authority within the next 72 hours. This riot act is also directed at existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders, who utilize aircraft listed on their PNCF for commercial charter operations.
“It must be emphasized that only aircraft listed in the operation specifications of the AOC are authorized to be used in the provision of such charter services. Any of those AOC holders who wish to use the aircraft for charter operations must apply to the NCAA to delist the affected aircraft from the PNCF and include it into the AOC operations specification,” he said.
Najomo said the NCAA wished to reiterate to the travelling public not to patronise any airline charter operator who did not hold a valid Air Operators Certificate issued by the NCAA, when they wished to procure charter operations services.
