The Federal Government has given private jet owners 90 days to streamline their operations. The ultimatum is coming after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) threatened to severely sanction all owners and operators of foreign registered privately operated aircraft in the country who have failed to regularise their documentation in conformity with their operational status.
According to the NCAA, the sanctions will include grounding of operations, revocation of licence and outright seizure of aircraft, adding that the use of these aircraft for commercial operations is at variance with the Nigerian civil aviation regulation, Nig.CARs 9.1.
This ultimatum was given at the weekend at the conclusion of a meeting between the officials of the Ministry of Aviation and the stakeholders in the general aviation sector which warehouses all the owners and operators of private jets.
According to Fan Ndubuoke, Mohammed Abbass, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Aviation, gave the ultimatum after the meeting which lasted for several hours in Abuja. As part of the unanimous decisions at the meeting, the blanket ban upon the operators of foreign registered privately operated aircraft in the country has been lifted with conditions attached. “As earlier indicated, the 90 days ultimatum is one of the conditions during which it is expected that all operators would have regularised their documentation to specify their choice of operation.” However, during this moratorium, it is still subsisting that no private jet owner will be allowed to surreptitiously convert his jet for commercial purposes.
At the end, it was agreed by all present at the meeting that any violator during the ultimatum and at the expiry date will be visited with much more stiffer penalties than earlier earmarked, he said. Earlier, a committee was set up by Osita Chidoka, aviation minister, to take a holistic appraisal of their operations. The committee had since submitted its report.
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