NCAA
Chinedu Eze
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the Air Operator Licence (AOC) of one of the new airlines, Discovery Air, for failing to meet given operating standards.
In a statement signed by the Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs of the NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, the regulatory body said: “In pursuit of its oversight responsibilities as stipulated by law, the NCAA has lately carried out a review of the operations of some domestic airlines after which letters of warning or suspension of AOCs were served on defaulters.”
The regulatory body said in line with the law, it decided to carry out corrective measures by disciplining airlines that committed infractions against given regulations and found Discovery Air not worthy to be allowed to continue operations for arbitrary cancellation of flights and keeping passengers stranded without cogent reasons.
“A case in point is an airline that failed to carry out certain corrective actions within one week from January 1 to 7, this year as raised in an earlier letter to the operators.
“Consequent upon the inability to address the issues raised, the authority in its January 8 letter to the operator declared that: “The Authority, pursuant to Section 35(2) and (3)(b) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and Part 1.1.3.3.3(a) (1)of the Nig. CARs 2009, hereby suspends the Air Operator’s Certificate of Discovery Airways Limited.’’
NCAA said the suspension of Discovery Air “takes effect from January 8 this year, the date of the letter conveying the notice. This order would be in force pending the outcome of a comprehensive review of the airline’s operations to be carried out accordingly.”
The regulatory body also said: “As much as it is not the desire of NCAA to regulate any airline out of existence, the authority however viewed any violation of safety regulations seriously.”
But reacting to the suspension, a source from the airline said it cancelled flights because of bad weather, but there was no indication that NCAA was notified.
Last month, Discovery Air abandoned passengers who bought their tickets and were billed to travel on Christmas Day on a 10 a.m. flight from Abuja to Lagos. That action angered the management of NCAA which threatened to suspend the airline, a threat which it carried out yesterday.
One of the passengers on the billed Christmas Day flight, who simply identified himself as Yakubu, told THISDAY that three days before the flight date, he logged on the airline’s website and bought a ticket with online confirmation.
“I got to the airport by 8:30 a.m. and met seven other passengers but there were no Discovery Air officials at the airline’s check-in counter or their ticket booth. We waited till 9:00 a.m. before we got their numbers and started calling. A representative of the Consumer Protection Directorate of NCAA who was on hand, helped to call some of the staff of the airline but their phones were switched off.
“There was no information from the airline on why they would not fly or why they were not at the airport. Many of us waited for hours but no one came and addressed us from the airline. At about 4:00 p.m. some of us bought the ticket of other airlines and left for Abuja. I left the airport at about 6:00 p.m. It was a terrible experience,” Yakubu said.
www.thisdaylive.com
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