The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says there is no controversy at all concerning the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of CHANCHANGI Airways.
General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye stated this following a recent report by a newspaper titled Controversy trails renewal of defunct CHANCHANGI Airways Air Operating Certificate.
He said “at present and quite evidently CHANCHANGI Airways is not carrying out any form of operation. In order words everything concerning the Airline have been archived.
According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015, Part 9.1.1.12(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no AOC holder may conduct a kind of operation for which it holds authority in its operations specifications unless the AOC holder has conducted that kind of operation within the preceding number of consecutive calendar days specified in this paragraph:
1. For scheduled operations- 30 days.
2. For non – scheduled operations- 90 days except that if the AOC holder has authority to conduct scheduled operations, and has conducted scheduled operations within the previous 30 days, this paragraph does not apply.
In other words it is not obtaining the AOC that is the most important, what defines an airline is the validity of its operational specifications.
Therefore since the airline in question is not operational it is curious where the controversy is arising from. The airline got the AOC when it was operating a Boeing 737 for cargo operations. At the expiration of the mandatory number of days for initial operation as specified in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NigCARs) the sanction was automatically activated and the airline has been grounded.
The airline has remained grounded till date. Their aircraft was leased by another airline and is at present unserviceable due to lack of maintenance.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will continue to provide a robust regulation of the industry and every infraction will be viewed seriously.
