Tag: NCAA

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has notified the public of immediate lifting of the suspension placed on Emirates Airlines operations in Nigeria.

The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu made this known in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday.

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 had directed for the immediate suspension of Emirates Airlines operations effective Feb. 4 until when the needed infrastructure and logistics were put in place for the Rapid Antigen Test (RDT) test by the Nigerian Government.

Nuhu recalled that the PTF was made aware of the requirements by Emirates airlines and KLM for passengers travelling from Nigeria on their flights to Dubai and Amsterdam.

The director-general said that they were to undergo a RDT four hours from the time of flights departure.

She said: “This requirement is in addition to the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test done 72 hours from the date of departure by passengers.

“The implementation of the additional requirement by the two airlines was commenced without the prior notification or approval of the PTF and other regulatory bodies in the country.

“This led to the provision of RDT testing by organisations and laboratories that have not been approved by the PTF and other regulatory agencies for RDT at or around our international airports in Lagos and Abuja.

“The PTF upon review of the situation directed the NCAA to inform the airlines to either suspend the requirement for pre-departure RDT or their flights to the country.

“Until such a time when the required infrastructure and logistics have been put in place for RDT by the government.

The director general said Emirates Airlines, however, continued their operations requiring passengers to carry out the RDT test six hours from the time-of-flight departure from the country.

Nuhu said Emirates Airlines on Feb. 5 informed the NCAA in writing that the UAE government had given the airline approval to suspend the pre-departure RDT requirement for passengers travelling on their flight to Dubai.

“Consequent upon the foregoing, the PTF directed the NCAA to lift the suspension placed on Emirates Airlines flights into Nigeria with effective from Feb. 5.

“The public is hereby informed as follows: Emirates Airlines no longer requires passengers to carry out pre-departure RDT.

“No laboratory has been approved by the PTF and other regulatory agencies to carry out RDT for incoming or departing passengers,” he said.

Nuhu said that the PTF would inform all Nigerians of any changes to the above.

Stakeholders in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have expressed determination to prevent air accidents occurrences being associated with human factors in the industry.

Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu gave the assurance in a keynote address he delivered on the prevention of human factors in air accidents occurrences at a conference in Lagos on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was organised by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in partnership with the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC).

Nuhu said the primary responsibility of the regulator was public safety and that was why it must ensure safety and shared responsibilities with the certified entities and licensed personnel.

The DG remarked that the authority would unravel the contributory factors and develop appropriate safety recommendations, based on safety risk assessments and considerable cost-effectiveness.

According to him, the regulatory authorities will also enforce implementation by certified entities and licensed personnel to prevent reoccurrence and improve safety records.

He said that every aviation accident was a global tragedy and the industry, through the accident investigative authorities, must be determined to unravel the probable causes.

Quoting from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Safety Report of 2020, Nuhu said there were 114 aviation accidents in 2019, six of which were serious and with 239 fatalities.

“This 2019 global accident rate of 2.9 accidents per million departures is the highest in the previous five years and represents an increase of 12 per cent from the year 2018 figure.

“It is common knowledge that, at least, 70 per cent of aviation accidents are attributable to human factors,’’ he said.

Also speaking, the Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr Akin Olateru said that to achieve substantial progress in air transportation safety, it is necessary to focus on the most frequently occurring air accidents.

Olateru, represented by the bureau’s Director of Operation, Mr Dayyabu Danrara listed frequent air accidents to be focused to include the runway excursions, overruns and loss of control of the aircraft.

He said it was also important to focus on the phases of flight, especially at its beginning (takeoff) and end (landing).

Olateru said aircraft accidents were dominated by human failure.

He said in spite of a positive development in the trend of accidents recording since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of air accidents was still rising.

“Consequently, it is important to do everything possible to substantially reduce the human failure in air transportation.

“A system of models appears to be an important tool for overall understanding of the complexity of human factors, serving as starting-points to an analytical and classification research of the human factor.

“At the same time, these models enable qualified investigation and assessment of the causes of air accidents and incidents, thereby preventing them from repeated occurrence,’’ the commissioner said.

The LAAC Chairman, Olusegun Koiki, explained that like majority of air accidents, aviation disasters could have been prevented if the necessary precautionary measures were put in place to prevent the accidents from happening.

Koiki said that the country could not continue to waste lives unnecessarily as aircraft were designed by manufacturers for all situations that the flight crew could possibly encounter.

“Continuous focus on human factors cannot be over-emphasised,’’ he said.

Koiki urges speedy passage of the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) bill currently before the National Assembly.

“The approval of this bill will reinforce safety in all modes of transportation in Nigeria through distinctive, efficient and effective investigations of accidents,’’ he said.

Capt. Musa Nuhu, Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has urged airlines plying regional and international routes to always inform the authority in their expansions to avoid unnecessary foreign exploration.

Nuhu made the plea at a Gateway Forum organised by the League of Aviation and Airport Correspondents (LAAC) on Wednesday in Lagos.

Air Peace Airline had complained about exploitative treatment in some West Coast destinations.

Nuhu explained that if the authority had been carried along, it would have known how to wade in, and protect the airlines appropriately.

He said: “The airlines should always carry the NCAA, the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Embassy in the country they are flying into along.

“We are here to help them grow, they should carry us along; it will be very helpful when the airlines carry the regulatory body along.

“And when they have difficulties, they should complain to us; we will stand with them and guide them and even go with them. There must be fairness from both sides,” he said.

Nuhu explained that Federal Government’s palliatives would only be given to operational airlines with valid Air Operator Certificate (AOC) which would access whatever was being tabled.

The director-general said the palliatives to be given by government have been touted to take different forms, some of which were speculated to be single digit loans for a number of years.

Nuhu, however, said the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), would not err in putting forward a defunct airline for the palliative.

“Any airline can apply, whether functioning or not, but it is a policy that participating airlines must be functioning and with Air Operators Certificate.

“I also believe that the AON has its own set of rules and they know the criteria. I believe the AON will not put forward a non-functioning airline,” he said.

The NCAA director-general explained that on the economic viability of Nigerian airlines, the COVID-19 had levelled, even the strongest of carriers.

According to him, this is different from what was happening and most were being handed bailouts to survive across the globe.

Nuhu noted that the financial health of airlines was not limited to Nigerian airlines, saying it was a global issue, especially due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said NCAA had seen airlines that had got millions of dollars as subsidies from their governments, and they still had issues.

Nuhu said that several airlines had sacked their workers such as British Airlines, Emirates, Lufthansa and were withdrawing some aircraft.