National Assembly May Overrule NCAA over Minimum Aircraft for Commercial Operations

Chinedu Eze

The National Assembly has revealed that it is working on a bill that will make it compulsory for commercial airlines in Nigeria to start operation with four to five aircraft, which is lower than six aircraft, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) stipulated as the minimum equipment for new entrants into the industry.

This was disclosed by the Chairman, Senate committee on Aviattion, Abdulfatai Buhari, who spoke at the South West Air Transportation Summit, in Lagos.

Nigerian airlines had recently expressed dismay at the six aircraft policy stipulated by NCAA. However, if the National Assembly passes the four aircraft policy into law, it will nullify that of NCAA.

THISDAY learnt that before the six aircraft rule, the regulation stipulated minimum of two aircraft and according to the law, airline cannot operate schedule service with only one aircraft, but when starting operation with minimum of two aircraft, there were times airlines with only two aircraft would ground one for maintenance and instead of suspending operation would appeal to NCAA to be using one aircraft pending the return of the one on maintenance.

This means that NCAA might not have strictly kept to the rule of two aircraft minimum operational equipment. Informed source also told THISDAY that it was because the minimum number of aircraft needed to start operation was only two, many businessmen who were not really prepared with needed capital outlay would go into airline business; only to go under few years later.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, during a recent Arise TV interview, explained that because Nigeria does not have major aircraft maintenance facility, airlines ferry their aircraft due for checks overseas.

“This reduces their operational aircraft, which gives rise to delays, as the struggle to manage existing fleet to operate to the same destinations they were operating when they have more aircraft. This leads to flight cancellation and poor on-time performance,” he said.

NCAA in July 2023, unveiled its policy, stating that from January 2025, the minimum aircraft fleet of any airline providing scheduled service in Nigeria would be six aircraft, as against the minimum of two aircraft, which has been the policy over the years.

With minimum operating aircraft of six, NCAA insisted that the minimum aircraft that must be airworthy out of that six aircraft should be four. This means that an airline is expected to ground its operations if it has less than four aircraft that is airworthy.

“Nigerian airlines should be professional, Nigerians want to see confidence, they want comfort and want to be assured of safety, if an airline has just two aircraft, it should operate within the confines of its capacity and not overburden itself with multiple routes than can’t be served.

“It is sad to experience delayed flights , we need to do the right thing for the sector to excel and compete favourably with our counterpart. We are working on a bill that will make it mandatory for prospective and existing airlines to have minimum of four or five aircraft to start operations,” he said.

He also called on NCAA to make it as law that when an airline reduces the number of operating aircraft in its fleet, the regulatory authority would reduce the destinations the airline operates and ensures that the airline abides by the recommended number of destinations.

According to industry expert and the CEO of BeluJane Konsult, Chris Aligbe, “If you have two aircraft NCAA can tell you how many routes you can fly to maintain schedule integrity.”

Aligbe also looked at Nigeria’s full compliance with the Cape Town Convention by signing the Practice Direction on dry-leasing of aircraft, which increased the country’s rating from 49 to 70.5 and commended the federal government, especially the Minister of Aviation, Keyamo and traced the current inability of Nigerian airlines to lease aircraft to the attitude of past airline operators who flagrantly disregarded the rules that guided aircraft leasing, prompting lessors to blacklist Nigeria, a situation that  led to current inadequate aircraft seats to meet the demand of air travellers.

Aligbe said given what has been achieved so far, “two things remain to be accomplished and these include sanction for any airline that reneges on lease agreement, suggesting that the operating licence (Air Operator Certificate (AON) should be withdrawn for 10 to 20 years and insisted that punitive measures must be established for such airlines that could jeopardise what has already been achieved with the Cape Town Convention.

“I give the Minister credit. I never thought we could get out of this. But two things remain. What is the sanction for any airline that will go against the rules stipulated for aircraft leasing. Some airlines may go tomorrow and renege on the conditions for leasing aircraft. If there is no such sanction, an airline may do that tomorrow. That airline should be made to lose its AOC. Its AOC will be withdrawn for 10 to 20 years.”

The President of Aviation Round Table (ART), Air Commodore Ademola Onitiju (rtd), said that with few operating aircraft, airlines should have strengthened their operations through code sharing and interlining, noting that the body had advocated for one ticket solution, whereby a passenger who bought airline ticket from a particular airline can use it to travel with other airlines, saying that code-sharing and other partnerships ensure efficiency, customer satisfaction and schedule integrity.

Reacting, the Ground Operations Manager of Air Peace, Ayodeji Adeyemi, said that some Nigerian airlines have interline with one another, contrary to the assumption that there is no such partnership among Nigerian airlines. He said that Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) organised a code-sharing arrangement, whereby airlines help themselves by airlifting their passengers.

He also pointed out that there are limitations to on-time performance beyond the challenges pointed out about the airlines.