The Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu says the current situation present an excellent opportunity for cargo operations and other services for Nigerian airline operators.
He said since it would take time for passenger traffic to get back to the Pre-COVID-19 level on resumption, their excess capacity of what they have, they should see if they could do both domestic and international cargo services.
Speaking at an aviation webinar organized by SY&T Communications in collaboration with AELEX Partners with the topic: FLYING INTO TURBULENT SKIES, SAFELY NAVIGATING COVID-19 HEADWINDS: SURVIVAL STRATEGIES FOR NIGERIAN AVIATION”, The NCAA helmsman said, “It is very, very difficult for us with this global problem, tens of thousands aircraft have been parked, tens of thousands of employees, some have been laid off, I think the difficulty we are going through now, lets not look at the difficulty, we should see it as a opportunity to reinvent the industry both domestically and internationally.”
Captain Nuhu noted that he understands the difficulties getting permits and approvals to fly into some countries but urged the operators ready to take this step to involve the NCAA and the Ministry in their negotiations for seamless operations.
“I think if the airlines can consult Nigerian government, the NCAA, the Ministry and the Embassies about when you go into negotiations with these foreign countries probably this is going to help.”
He stressed the review of the industry’s regulations to reflect the current realities, adding that the industry has changed not just for a short time but forever.”The main point am trying g to make is that we have an opportunity, presently the Civil Aviation Act and other aviation laws and once that is passed, it gives us an opportunity and collectively and look at our regulations, lets review our regulations to reflect the current realities, things have changed, aviation industry has changed not just for a short time forever.”
He added, ” it has changed and we must have the thinking, lets not think short time, one year, two years, lets think long time and what do we need to do to ensure the survival of the industry over the long time considering what has happened, it is a long time change and I strong believe the Civil Aviation Authority has a significant role to play in assisting or providing the guidelines to the industry to adjust to this long time change.”
Captain Nuhu emphasized that efforts were on by the NCAA to strength its economic regulations department.
Emphasizing the importance and the seriousness of this department to the regulatory agency, he said it had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with some organizations like the US Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, International Air Transport Association, IATA.
Captain Nuhu explained that they were also working with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, adding that they were also ready to sign with the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO next month in Abuja.
He said these organizations were willing to help them train their people and strengthen the economic regulatory function of the Civil Aviation Authority because as they have a critical role to play in the economic development and providing guidance to the Industry.
“A lot of people think of NCAA as only safety, technical but we also have a technical role in economic regulations and economic development of the industry and that is a department we are working to strengthen and have already signed am MoU with a lot of organizations, FAA, IATA, I was supposed to sign with ICAO, we were supposed to have conference in Abuja next month that we were supposed to sign with ICAO, we are working with EASA, now these organizations that are but also the industry needs to help itself by thinking out of the box and innovating, the industry has changed, we must innovate and we must adapt to these changes to survive.”
