NCAA: Air Operators Certificate Validity Extended 

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA, has announced that the validity period for Flight Operators certificate is extended to cover longer time. The extension is for scheduled and non-scheduled operators for a span period of five years and three years, respectively.

The new validity period will therefore allow airlines the much and needed freedom and convenient to perform their operations without any disruption. This comes with emphasis that the fees and charges still remain unchanged as it had been since it was updated last in 2009.

Engr. Godwin Balang, the Chairman, Regulations Committee, revealed this to all at the stakeholders’ consultation meeting on the proposed NCAA Regulation 2023 on Tuesday 4th April, 2023 in Abuja.

Engr. Balang said, “The validity period of the AOC has been extended to five years for scheduled operators and three years for non-scheduled operators just to give AOC holders some freedom to carry out their operations.”

The Director General NCAA, Capt Musa Nuhu, revealed the reviewed penalties upwards for violators in the industry with the maximum penalty for airlines standing at N10 million while the minimum at N1m in his opening remarks.

Capt. Nuhu, gave more clarity on the upward review of penalties as not a route for punishment but rather, to serve as guide going by the realities on ground which must align with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

He therefore, added that the powers of the NCAA to regulate civil aviation in Nigeria are captured throughout the Civil Aviation Act 2022, in which Section 31 of the Act give the authority the power to make regulations on all aspects of civil aviation matters.

Nuhu said,” As required by Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Adoption of International Standards and Procedures), these Regulations are made to cover and domesticate all ICAO Standards that are contained in the relevant Annexes.”

He further call on all stakeholders to note that all comments received from stakeholders pursuant to the Notice of Proposed Amendments published on February 12, 2023, are strictly in accord with the approved NCAA rule-making process manual.

He said,” I am optimistic that during these three days of deliberation, the aviation professionals and experts present physically or virtually will assist the Authority to derive near-perfect Regulations for the advancement of Civil Aviation in Nigeria.”

Some key players however, noted that some operators have been punished unjustifiably in the past for actions that were not thoroughly investigated and penalties slammed on the operators without any reference to International Civil Aviation Organisation or any regulatory body during the interactive session with many wondering whether the regulations for sanction on defaulters were basically in line with the International Civil Aviation Officer’s constitution.

However, the DG assured that the agency’s action on every officer was in line with ICAO standards and the charges are fair compared to other charges elsewhere in dollars, that of Nigeria is exceptionally low.

https://ncaa.gov.ng/media-center/news/ncaa-hosts-icao-air-services-negotiation-ican2022-event/

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