Sade Williams/Business a.m.
An urgent need has arisen immediately to have Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, speed up any process it is involved in to begin flight operations between Nigeria and the United States. The airline has been working on introducing Lagos-New York-Lagos flights since it began its Lagos-London-Lagos operations.
Here is why this has become urgent. Nigeria’s United States Category One delisting has nothing to do with safety deficiencies on the part of Nigeria, Chris Najomo, the country’s civil aviation chief has explained.
Najomo’s dossier of explanation, say aviation experts, brings into sharp relief the urgency of the push by West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, Air Peace, to get a footing into the US through its planned Lagos-New York-Lagos route.
Although Air Peace is yet to give an update regarding its pursuit of the route opening, the airline is understood to have been working behind the scene since it received approval from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to operate flights on the route, flying from Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport to John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport in New York.
Najomo is the director general of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and was deeply involved during recent international inspection and assessment of Nigeria’s aviation facilities for which no security or safety issues came up.
In a statement he signed on behalf of the NCAA, Najomo stated that Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concern (SSC) or Significant Security Concern (SSeC) respectively.
He explained that to operate into the United States of America Nigeria, like most countries, must satisfactorily pass the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Programme and attain Category 1 status, adding that pon attaining this status, Nigerian airlines were 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 (BASA).
He added that the first time Nigeria attained Category One Status was in August 2010 while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted another safety assessment on Nigeria in 2014. A further safety assessment was conducted on Nigeria in 2017, after which Nigeria retained her Category One status.
However, Najomo explained that with effect from September, 2022, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) delisted Category One countries who, after a 2-year period, had no indigenous operator providing service to the U.S. or carrying the airline code of a U.S operator. Also removed from the Category One list were countries who the FAA was not providing technical assistance to 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 2-year period preceding September, 2022 so it was expected that Nigeria would be delisted as were other countries who fell within this category. Nigeria was, therefore, delisted in 2022 and was duly informed of this action in 2022.
“It is important to clarify here that the delisting of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in our oversight system. Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concern (SSC) or Significant Security Concern (SSeC) respectively.
“It is furthermore necessary to add that a Nigerian operator can still operate into the U.S. using an aircraft wet-leased from a country who has a current Category One status.
“The NCAA continues to adhere strictly to international safety and security standards and respects the sovereignty of States, including the United States of America, as enshrined in Article One of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. This provision gives States complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above their territories,” he said.
Najomo explained further that it is in full realisation of this situation that has since prompted the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, to embark on an aggressive international campaign to empower our local operators to access the dry-lease market around the world which culminated in the visit to Airbus in France earlier this year and the MoU signed with Boeing in Seattle, Washington more recently.
“The honourable minister has also done a lot of work to make Nigeria comply fully with the Cape Town Convention which will bring back the confidence of international lessors in the Nigerian aviation market. We are confident that with these steps of the honourable minister, it is only a matter of time that Nigeria, not only regains, but can sustain its U.S. Category One status,” he added.
What will you leave when you’re gone?