The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has suspended the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) of Sky Power Express Airways Nigeria Limited.
It said the suspension is as a result of non-compliance and or violations of the provision of Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CAR) Part 9.2.3.4(b) by the operator.
The suspension is in respect of the aircraft leasing operation of the organisation’s AOC under Specs Part G.
Though the AOC of the airline remains valid, it ceases to enjoy the right granted it to lease aircraft particularly wet-leasing arrangements for the operation.
This, however, employs grounding of the operation of the airline as it does not have any aircraft which it deploys for operations.
15 aircraft grounded
Similarly, the NCAA suspended the operations of some private charter aircraft due to non-compliance of the same ops spec Part G.
The Regulatory body, in a letter dated June 30th, 2020 with reference number NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/129, signed by the Director General Captain Musa Nuhu titled: Suspension of the Ops specs Part G (Aircraft Leasing Operations) of your organization’s Air Operator’s Certificate, communicated the suspension to the Managing Director of Sky Power Express Airways Nig Limited based in Kaduna.
The Nigeria CARS Part 9.2.3.4(b), which refers to Wet Leasing aircraft, states: (b) No holder of an AOC issued under this Part 9 may allow another entity or air operator to conduct wet-lease operations on its behalf (a wet-lease in) unless;
(1) That air operator holds an AOC or its equivalent from a Contracting State that authorizes those operations;
(2) The AOC holder advises the Authority of such operations and provides a copy of the AOC under which the operation was conducted;
(3) Such an operation does not exceed a period of 12 months and
(4) The Authority approves the operations.
The NCAA said the airline had violated the sections of the regulations and suspended the operations of eight aircraft covered by the violations.
The letter read: “The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) hereby informs you of the decision to suspend the provisions and authorization of the OPS SPECS part G (Aircraft Leasing Operations) of the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC SEA/AOC11-18/001) of Sky Power Express Airways Nigeria Limited due to non-compliance and or violations of Nig.CARS Part 9.2.3.4(b).
“Be informed that by this action, your organisation ceases to exercise all the privileges associated with Part G authorization.
“Furthermore, the operations of the following aircraft listed on the Part G of your organisation’s operations specifications are hereby suspended pending a full audit of your organisation and compliance with all the relevant Nig. CARS:
The aircrafts affected include: Hawker 800XP:N838; Hawker 800XP: N552ME; Hawker 800XP: N749WW; Hawker 800XP:ZS-EX;CL604-D-ANGB; CL604-T7-NMN; CL601-N580KR; and Gulfstream 200-N100EK.
Other airline’s whose aircraft are affected by the audit are:
CL604-N605JA operated by Jedidiah Air
CL604-N880ET operated by OmniBlu
CL604-N604WL operated by West Link Airlines
G.IV-N990EA operated by NestOil
CL601-N253LA operated by West Link Airlines
G1159A-N313MS operated by Izy Air and
CL604-G-FABO operated by Jet Support Services.
