Another airline, First Nation suspends operations
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority announced that another domestic carrier, First Nation Airlines, has suspended its operations.
This is coming in less than 24 hours after Aero Contractors Airlines, Nigeria’s second largest commercial carrier, announced an indefinite suspension of its scheduled flight services and its staff with effect from Thursday, September 1, 2016.
According to the Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, the decision was taken in order to ensure that the airline carried out the required maintenance of its aircraft.
Usman, however, refuted claims that some of the domestic airlines were winding down their operations regardless of the fact that they had suspended flight services.
In a statement issued by the NCAA on Thursday and signed by its DG, it said, ‘The First Nation Airlines on its part is in the middle of an Engine Replacement Programme for one of its aircrafts. Another aircraft is due for mandatory maintenance as allowed by the regulatory authority.’
He went further to say that the airlines clearly cannot continue to undertake schedule operations in the present state hence the inevitable recourse to self regulatory suspension.
Usman insisted that the domestic carriers had not wound down their operations, but were ‘merely suspending their operations temporarily to enable them undertake certain operational overhaul and strengthen their overall operational outlay.’
