The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of First Nation Airways indefinitely.
In a statement, the General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Sam Adurogboye says the airline’s AOC had to be suspended for carrying out unauthorised and illegal operations which was in violation of the terms and conditions of issuance of it AOC by the Airline.
According to the statement, the letter conveying the suspension revealed that when the AOC of First Nation Airways expired, the airline did not have at least two (2) airworthy aircraft capable of servicing its approved schedule as required by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation of 2015.
Consequently, the Airline’s Air Operators Certificate (AOC) was, upon renewal, restricted to non-scheduled operation, (Charter) only.
However, First Nation Airways embarked on scheduled operations with continuous advertisement of its services and sold tickets at its Check-in counters in Lagos and Abuja Airports.
The Authority says the Airline was directed to stop the illegal operations forthwith, warning that failure to desist would lead to a suspension of its operating authorisation.
On further investigation, it was discovered that the Airline had disregarded all warnings and continued with the unauthorised and illegal operations in violation of its AOC terms and conditions of issuance.
FirstNation Airways is expected to return the AOC to the Authority’s Director of Operations and Training within seven (7) days of receiving the letter.
The NCAA also made it clear that anytime the Airline demonstrates ability and willingness to comply with the extant regulations, the Authority shall review the Airline’s operations and restore the AOC to enable it commence operations.
The NCAA therefore restated its zero tolerance for violations of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, NCARS and will continue to enforce compliance through application of appropriate sanctions for any infractions.
First Nation Airways has released a statement in response to the suspension of its regular services.
In a statement signed by a representative of the airline, Rasheed Yusuf, the carrier was undergoing a fleet management programme.
“The AOC was successfully renewed for charter operation and we have contracts for sales distributions. We thus remain committed to the highest level of safety standard in line with global industry best practises.
FirstNation is currently working on a fleet expansion program and we are confident that we will expand to schedule operation during the fourth quarter of 2017.
