Flight Disruption Looms As NCAA Suspends Services To Air Peace, Ibom Air, Others

DISRUPTION of flights looms across Nigeria and even beyond, as the Federal Government, through the aviation industry regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has ordered its directorates to suspend services to 11 domestic airlines and placed them on its updated “No-Pay-No-Service” list over their indebtedness to the Authority.
The affected airlines include Air Peace Limited; Ibom Air Limited; Arik Air Limited; United Nigeria Airlines; Umza Air; NG Eagle; Max Air Limited; Caverton Helicopters; Overland Airways; Rano Air; and ValueJet.”
An internal memo by the agency’s Director of Finance and Accounts, Olufemi Odukoya, ordered all departments to withhold regulatory and administrative services from the affected airlines until they cleared their outstanding debts or agree on repayment plans over remittance of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and Cargo Sales Charge collected by airlines on behalf of the Authority to support safety oversight, personnel training and economic regulation within the aviation sector.
All directorates, by the memo, circulated across the authority’s regional offices and copied to the director general and other senior officials, were directed to suspend services to the affected airlines, pending financial clearance from the Directorate of Finance and Accounts.