The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended Permits for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) who used their aircraft to carry out commercial flight operations.
This is as NCAA ordered that all Permits for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) be re-evaluated within 72 hours.
Back in 2023 the use of private jets for commercial purposes had gotten the attention of Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, who issued marching orders for the cessation of such acts.
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.
The Authority had also deployed its officials to monitor activities of private jets at terminals across the airports in Nigeria. As a consequence of this heightened surveillance, no fewer than three private operators have been found to be involved in violation of the annexure provision of their PNCF and Part 9114 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023.
In a Statement signed by Chris Ona Najomo, acting Director General, NCAA said, “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 reiterated that the travelling public should not patronise any airline charter operator who does not hold a valid Air Operators Certificate issued by the NCAA, when they wish to procure charter operations services.
He encouraged the legitimate players in the aviation industry to report the activity of such unscrupulous elements to the authority promptly for necessary action.
