By Aminu Kutama
Passengers of Azman Air nationwide are currently stranded as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended indefinitely the operating license of the airline after failure to renew the audits of its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the regulatory agency.
AOC is an aviation safety instrument that authorises an airline operator to carry out specified commercial air transport operations.
The document issued to Azman Air allowed it to operate as a passenger, cargo, scheduled and charter flight operator. The certificate is renewed every two years in Nigeria by the NCAA.
This development has however led to massive chaos at the nation’s airports as passengers who had hitherto booked with the airline to travel to various destinations are currently stranded after receiving messages from the airline that all flights booked for Thursday have been cancelled.
According to information gathered, the airline had already told its workforce not to report to duties on Thursday as it was suspending operations ”due to operational reasons.”
It was also learnt that the regulatory body had given it much time for the airline to renew the AOC, but it failed despite the NCAA issuing the airline another 30 days ultimatum to meet the requirements.
Recall that during one of the meetings between Government agencies and airlines, the NCAA said that Azman Airlines has failed the renewal audits of its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). With this, the regulatory agency has suspended indefinitely the operating license of the airline.
Checks on the airline’s website have indicated that the airline is still taking bookings for flights on Friday, but there is currently no certainty that the flights will function as indicated.
Speaking to SAHELIAN TIMES on the issue, the Public Relations Office of airline, Engr Nurudden Aminu confirmed that the airline’s Air Transport License has expired and the regulatory body did not extend it by the time it elapsed on Wednesday .
“We had no choice but to suspend all flight operations on Thursday, we are currently working on renewing the license and we are confident that all flights will resume on Friday as planned,” the airline added.
