A disquiet atmosphere pervaded the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2) on Thursday as passengers arrived the facility to either catch their flight or purchase tickets but were stunned when most of them realized that a major domestic carrier, Azman Air’s operations had been suspended for its inability to meet its financial obligations to the regulatory authority.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had recently sounded it clear to operating airlines that failure to offset all legacy debts will result to halt in their operations when they apply for renewal of Air Operating Certificates (AOC) and the Air Transport License (ATL).
Our correspondent who visited the airline’s counters and offices at the MMA2 in Ikeja Thursday afternoon reported that while counters were deserted, only one staff member was seen inside another of its offices on the first floor of the terminal.
It was gathered that the airline had intimated staff of it challenges and requested they stay at home for the main time while the airline resolve the impasse with inspectors from the Directorate of Air Transport Regulation (DATR) in NCAA which had earlier in a correspondence informed Azman Air of the impending halt of it operations if it fail to meet a 30-days ultimatum.
The airline will be the third domestic carrier that suspended its operation following their inability to meet mandatory regulatory requirements in the last 90 days, the others are Aero Contractors and Dana Air.
However, there are hopes that the suspension may be temporary as the Azman Air Chairman, Azman Air, Abdulmunaf Sarina hinted that the airline has paid some amount to the NCAA on Thursday, uncomfirmed report put the figure paid into the NCAA coffer at N30 million to offset its debts.
A terse message from the Chairman red “Our license expired, but we are going to renew it today,” in response to inquiries.
A look at the airline website showed that all its flights on its routes across Nigeria were cancelled.
At a recent meeting between airlines and federal government agencies in Abuja, the DG of NCAA had informed airline owners that their debts had skyrocketed to the tune of N42bn and $7.8million.
Captain Musa Nuhu warned that airlines will have to remit funds on a monthly basis to offset their legacy debts or risk non renewal of the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and Air Transport License (ATL).
