The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has punished the Aero Contractors Airlines for breaching safety regulations when it used a ladder to disembark passengers at the Bauchi airport on Saturday. The punishment is in line with Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations.
The Director General of the regulatory agency, Captain Muhtar Usman, said in a letter to the airlines, that the airlines was punished for allowing the use of a ladder to disembark passengers from a Boeing 737-500 aircraft in a non-emergency situation, which was contrary to its approved aircraft handling manual.
“Therefore, this is a violation of Part 9.2.4.2(b) of Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations, which attracts a civil penalty. “All relevant agencies made useful submissions during the course of the investigation,” NCAA said in a statement yesterday. The director general also said in the letter that “in view of the safety implications of your action you are hereby sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of Part 20.2.3(15) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation.”
NCAA noted that although the incident did not result in any mishap, the aircraft was airworthy and the crew qualified to operate the flight.
“However, it is viewed as a breach and resultantly a fine running into millions of naira has been clamped on the airline to serve as deterrence and to forestall any similar infraction by any other airline operator,” the director general said. In addition, the captain of the flight was fined for failing to comply with the provisions contained in the aircraft manual.
“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) therefore wishes to reiterate its earlier warning that all airlines should endeavour to adhere strictly to Civil Aviation Regulations,” NCAA added.
Meanwhile, FAAN has shifted blame over the Aero Contractors ‘use of ladder to disembark passengers at the Bauchi airport on Sunday.
A statement signed by FAAN management explained that the Bauchi airport is managed by the Bauchi state government while FAAN only provides statutory services at the airport such as aircraft marshaling, aviation security services and fire cover.
“The authority does not provide handling services for Aero Contractors and therefore does not understand why it should be held responsible for non-provision of appropriate equipment for passenger disembarkation.” While making further clarification, even though government had instituted a probe into the saga, it said: “Without prejudice to the directive given by the Minister of State for Aviation, for the immediate investigation to determine the immediate and remote causes of the unfortunate incident, we wish to clarify that Aero Contractors use of unauthorised equipment (ladder) to disembark its passengers does not have anything to do with FAAN.
“We also do not understand why the absence of marshallers on the apron, as claimed by the airline could cause the use of unauthorized equipment for disembarkation of passengers from the aircraft.” [myad]