NCAA suspends Discovery Air over safety code

From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

Exactly 215 days after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) issued an Air Operator’s Certificate to Discovery Air Limited; a domestic airline in Nigeria, the authority yesterday confirmed the suspension of the airline’s licence for failure to meet safety and other corrective actions as stipulated by the NCAA code.

The airline received its AOC on Tuesday June 3^rd from the former Director General of the NCAA, Benedict Adeyileka and commenced flight operations into airports in Abuja, Port Harcourt and a couple of other on Monday the 9^th of June 2014.

The suspension, the regulatory authority said followed the failure of the airline to adhere to the safety directives given to the airline to carry out some corrective measures, but failed.

A statement by the Deputy General Manager, Public Relations of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye disclosed that “In pursuit of its oversight responsibilities as stipulated by law, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority [NCAA] has lately carried out a review of the operations of some Domestic Airlines after which letters of warning or suspension of Air Operator’s Certificate [AOC] were served on defaulters.

The statement said “A case in point is an Airline that failed to carry out certain corrective actions within one week from the 1st to 7th of January, 2015 as raised in an earlier letter to the operator.

Consequent upon the inability to address the issues raised, the Authority in its 8th of January, 2015 letter to the operator declared, “the Authority pursuant to Section 35[2] and [3][b] of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and Part 1.1.3.3.3[a] [1] of the Nig. CARs 2009, hereby suspends the Air Operator’s Certificate [AOC] of Discovery Airways Limited” .

Furthermore, NCAA affirmed that “the suspension takes effect from the 8th of January 2015, the date of the letter conveying the notice. This order would be in force pending the outcome of a comprehensive review of the airlines operations to be carried out accordingly.

As much as it is not the desire of NCAA to regulate any airline out of existence, the Authority however viewed any violation of safety regulations seriously.” The statement added.