No ban on Nigerian airlines in US – NCAA

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says no Nigerian airline was banned from operating in the United States.

On Monday, media reports said Nigeria has been delisted from the US Federal Aviation Administration category one status (USFAA CAT 1) international aviation safety assessment programme (IASA).

According to the report, this is due to the failure of the country’s air­line to fly directly to the US for two years.

Reacting to the development, in a statement on Monday, Chris Najomo, acting director general of NCAA, said that due to “the wrong impression such news could create, it has become expedient that we put this report in its proper perspective”.

“To operate in the United States of America, Nigeria, like most countries, must satisfactorily pass the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Programme and attain Category 1 status. Upon attaining this status, Nigerian airlines would be permitted to operate Nigerian registered aircraft and dry-leased foreign registered aircraft into the United States, in line with the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA),” Najomo said.

“The first time Nigeria attained Category One Status was in August 2010. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted another safety assessment of Nigeria in 2014.

“A further safety assessment was conducted on Nigeria in 2017, after which Nigeria retained her Category One status.

“However, with effect from September 2022, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) de-listed Category One countries who, after a 2-year period, had no indigenous operator providing service to the U.S. or carrying the airline code of a U.S operator.

“Also removed from the Category One list were countries to which the FAA was not providing technical assistance based on identified areas of non-compliance to international standards for safety oversight.

“No Nigerian operator has provided service into the United States using a Nigerian registered aircraft within the 2-year period preceding September 2022, so it was expected that Nigeria would be delisted as were other countries who fell within this category.

“It is important to clarify here that the de-listing of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in our oversight system.

“Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concern (SSC) or Significant Security Concern (SSeC) respectively.”

According to Najomo, a Nigerian operator can still operate in the US using an aircraft wet-leased from a country with a current category-one status.

He said the agency will continue to adhere strictly to international safety and security standards and respects the sovereignty of countries, including the US, as enshrined in article one of the convention on International Civil Aviation.

“This provision gives states complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above their territories,” he said.

“Furthermore, it is in full realisation of this situation that has since prompted the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Olorogun Festus Keyamo, SAN, to embark on an aggressive international campaign to empower our local operators to access the dry-lease market around the world which culminated in the visit to AIRBUS in France earlier this year and the MOU signed with BOEING in Seattle, Washington just last week.

“The Honourable Minister has also done a lot of work to make Nigeria comply fully with the Cape Town Convention which will bring back the confidence of international lessors in the Nigerian aviation market.”

Najomo said the aviation agency is confident that Nigeria will regain and sustain its US category one status with the steps taken by Keyamo.