The Air Operator’s Certificates’ validity duration has been extended, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
Scheduled and non-scheduled operators will receive extensions of five years and three years, respectively.
The new validity period gives airlines the flexibility to conduct their business without interference, and it should be noted that fees and levies have not been modified since 2009.
This information was provided at a stakeholder consultation on the proposed NCAA regulation 2023 on Tuesday in Abuja by the chairman of the Regulations Committee, Engr. Godwin Balang.
Balang stated, “The validity period of the AOC has been extended to five years for scheduled operators and three years for non-scheduled operators just to give AOC holders some freedom to carry out their operations.”
The Director General NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, revealed the revised penalties upwards for offenders in the industry in his opening remarks. The maximum penalty for airlines is N10 million, while the minimum is N1 million.
However, Nuhu emphasized that the International Civil Aviation Organization’s guidelines were used to influence the upward revision of penalties rather than acting as a punishment.
He continued by saying that the Civil Aviation Act 2022, Section 31 of which gives the NCAA the ability to issue regulations on all things pertaining to civil aviation, encapsulates the NCAA’s jurisdiction to control civil aviation in Nigeria.
Nuhu said,” As required by Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Adoption of International Standards and Procedures), these Regulations are made to cover and domesticate all ICAO Standards that are contained in the relevant Annexes.”
The laws also cover important national issues, the NCAA president stated.
In order to exercise its authority to make regulations under this section, the authority must consult with stakeholders, including airlines, aerodrome operators, providers of air traffic control services, consumers, and other pertinent bodies and organizations in the aviation industry, according to him. Section 31(5) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 imposes this obligation on the authority.
Stakeholders are also encouraged to take note that the NCAA will reply to all comments received in response to the Notice of Proposed Amendments published on February 12, 2023, in line with the approved NCAA rule-making process handbook.
He said,” I am optimistic that during these three days of deliberation, the aviation professionals and experts present physically or virtually will assist the Authority to derive near-perfect Regulations for the advancement of Civil Aviation in Nigeria.”
Key participants in the interactive session raised the issue of some operators being penalized unfairly for actions that were not thoroughly examined and without any mention of the International Civil Aviation Organization or any other regulating agency.
However, they questioned whether ICAO guidelines were being followed and the authority’s justification for unilaterally raising fees and punishing airlines.
In his answer, the DG reaffirmed that the agency’s actions were in accordance with ICAO rules and that when they compared their fees to those of other organizations throughout the world in terms of dollars, they discovered that theirs was remarkably cheap.