• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Aero mulls flight resumption as NCAA okays audit

There are indications that Aero Contractors will be resuming operations soon as the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) has given a go-ahead for them to resume passenger flight operations.

As part of its preparations, the airline’s website has been reactivated and flights uploaded to commence booking operations.

Musa Nuhu, director general of the NCAA on Tuesday said Aero Contractors was not grounded based on safety issues. He said the NCAA did an audit of them and had some minor findings, which were very insignificant.

Nunu said the issue the airline had was financial sustainability.

“Aviation is safety sensitive and whenever you have financial difficulty, it is just a matter of time, you will not be able to comply with all the regulatory requirements and some may start cutting corners,” he said.

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“So, before the financial issue became a safety issue, we had a discussion with them and they on their own before we took any action, agreed with our findings and suspended their operations to enable them reorganise and get some funding to get more equipment.

“That is what they have done, we sat with them, they submitted, we asked for projection, which they did, we reviewed. The first one wasn’t good enough, they had to go and review it and it was quite satisfactory. We had MoU with them for payment of outstanding 5 per cent on Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).”

He however said the NCAA has concluded with Aero on the audit, hinting that Aero can now resume operations.

In July, the Aero Contractors suspended passenger flight operations, citing the harsh operating environment.

The management team, led by Abdullahi Mahmood, the managing director, said the decision was carefully considered and taken because “most of our aircraft are currently undergoing maintenance, resulting in our inability to offer a seamless and efficient service to our esteemed customers. The airline has said it was working to bring the aircraft back to service so it can continue to operate.