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NCAA to audit Med-View Airlines over EU ban

By Wole Oyebade
24 May 2017   |   3:35 am
A full-scale audit would soon be conducted on the operations of Med-view Airlines to ensure the safety of its aircraft.The Spokesperson of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, disclosed this yesterday.

The findings, according to NCAA, would determine further actions on the airlines, ahead of plans to engage the European Union Air Safety Committee (ASC) this week.

A full-scale audit would soon be conducted on the operations of Med-view Airlines to ensure the safety of its aircraft.The Spokesperson of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, disclosed this yesterday.

He said the in-house audit was part of the engagement to ensure that the ban placed on it by the European Union (EU) was lifted.Adurogboye explained that the ban had excluded the airlines from its member-countries over alleged safety issues.

The findings, according to NCAA, would determine further actions on the airlines, ahead of plans to engage the European Union Air Safety Committee (ASC) this week.

The NCAA had said in January that it would intensify economic audit on all local airlines.Like other stakeholders, he expressed concern that NCAA’s oversight function was ordered after the EU had suspended the airlines’ operations.

The NCAA had last week temporarily restricted Med-View’s flight operations to the region over alleged safety concerns and non-updating of its certification audit.

The Guardian learnt that the restriction was due to the airlines’ delay in having its Boeing767 aircraft audited for international operations, in accordance with the EU airspace rules.

The prohibition is, however, restricted to Med-View designated planes and not the entire operations.Adurogboye added that the planned meeting with the EU’s representative was part of the engagements with the European Commission (EC), following a failed application by the airlines for a Third Country Operator Authorisation to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

He explained that the application failed during the verification of documents submitted by the airline, “which were found to be non-compliant with Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 and therefore could not qualify for approval.”

Adurogboye stressed that the NCAA’s Director General, Capt. Muhtar Usman met with some senior officials of European Commission in Gaborone, Botswana, during the Regional Safety Oversight Organisation Conference in February this year.

“The Commission expressed its readiness to reconsider the inclusion of Med-View Airlines on the EU Air Safety List as soon as all issues of non-compliance were resolved with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA),” he said.Med-View has, however, continued its operations on the Lagos-London-Lagos route, using a wet-leased aircraft.

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