Azman Air asks aviation authority to lift suspension

Azman Air has written a protest letter to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) saying the decision to ground its operations was hasty.

The airline has asked the regulatory body to lift the suspension.

In the letter, Muhammad Hadi Abdulmunaf, the airline’s accountable manager, said even though the NCAA had investigated two of the three incidents which happened this month and had cleared the aircraft for operations, the third incident has not been investigated, hence there is no basis for suspension.

It has however asked the authority to reverse the suspension in line with the established precedent in respect of other airlines which have similar incidents and experiences in the past.

“This is particularly necessary in the interest of justice, fairness, and fair play,” he stated.

The letter with title: ‘Re: Suspension of Parts A3 and D43 of the Operations Specifications’ issued by Azman Air, reads: “Shortly after reception of the letter, we received a zoom conference invitation which was held between 1 pm to 2 pm on Tuesday (16/03/2021) surprisingly, the reason or grounds for suspension on Azman operations were not contained in the letter under reference, nor discussed at the zoom conference.

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In fact, Azman officials request for reasons or ground was not attended to. Instead, an attempt was made by the chief host (Ajiboye) to link the Azman Aircraft wheel burst in Lagos on (16/02/2021) with 5N-SYS which occurred on (16/02/2021) with recent Kaduna wheel burst of flight 5N-YSM which happened on 15/03/2021.

“Instructively, the NCAA and AIB have cleared Azman Air aircraft to continue its operations. Also, the incident that happened with regards to an object falling from aircraft 5N-SYS has technically been investigated and cleared by the NCAA with a sanction to Azman Air and the staff from Azman Air in Abuja on (8/03/2021).

“But, the Kaduna incident has not been investigated. Therefore, there is no nexus or link between the previous incident in Abuja or Lagos with Kaduna incident.

“Accordingly, without prejudice, the NCAA use of its power to write the suspension of Azman operations is not based on fact. Therefore, the management humbly request that Azman Air suspension should be lifted.”