By Abiola Olawale
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has offered explanations as to why Nigerian airlines were de-listed from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Category 1.
The NCAA clarified that the reason the US delisted Nigerian airlines from the Category One Status of the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme was due to the fact that there was absence of Nigerian airlines to ply the United States’ direct routes for two years.
This was made known in a statement issued by the NCAA’s Acting Director General, Captain Chris Najomo, on Tuesday.
Najomo maintained that Nigerian airlines are not banned from the US and that the de-listing was not related to safety or security deficiencies or issues.
He also asserted that Nigeria passed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audits with no significant concerns.
The statement reads in part: “Upon attaining this status, Nigerian airlines would be permitted to operate Nigerian registered aircraft and dry-leased foreign registered aircraft into the United States, in line with the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement.
“The first time Nigeria attained Category One Status was in August 2010. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration conducted another safety assessment of Nigeria in 2014. A further safety assessment was conducted on Nigeria in 2017, after which Nigeria retained her Category One status.
“However, with effect from September 2022, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration de-listed Category One countries who, after 2 years, had no indigenous operator provide service to the U.S. or carrying the airline code of a U.S operator. Also removed from the Category One list were countries where the FAA was not providing technical assistance based on identified areas of non-compliance to international standards for safety oversight.
“No Nigerian operator has provided service into the United States using a Nigerian registered aircraft within the two years preceding September 2022, so it was expected that Nigeria would be de-listed, as were other countries who fell within this category. Nigeria was, therefore, de-listed since 2022 and was duly informed of this action in 2022.”
