AZMAN Air has announced that its air operations have been restored and it will be resuming flight operations today.
The airline, making the statement yesterday via its official Twitter page, said all its passenger flights would resume from Friday, September 16, 2022 as scheduled.
The statement informed all passengers to kindly take note.
“Kindly contact us via our customer service channels for more information,” it read.
JUST IN: @AzmanAir Operation has been restored and all Flights will now operate as scheduled from Friday 16th Sept.
All Passengers should kindly take note.
Kindly contact us via our customer service channels for more informationhttps://t.co/QVwapWZhTo#LetsFlyAzmanAir pic.twitter.com/6P9vWZGnW8
— AzmanAir – #LetsFlyAzmanAir (@AzmanAir) September 15, 2022
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had suspended Azman Air operations early yesterday.
The NCAA Director-General, Captain Musa Nuhu, who gave more insights into why the airline’s Air Transport Licence (ATL) was suspended, noted that Azman was owing the regulator the sum of N1.2 billion.
An ATL is issued as authorization to airlines to provide scheduled and non-scheduled services. It is one of the licences received by airlines before they can commence operation as they await the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) that fully guarantees them the right to begin air services.
Without the ATL, according to Nuhu, the Air Operators Certificate ( AOC) becomes invalid.
Debts by airlines can accrue from the non-remittance of passenger service charge (PSC) and cargo service Cmcharge (CSC) belonging to the NCAA but collected on its behalf by the airlines.
“We didn’t suspend Azman Air’s AOC, but suspended their ATL, which had earlier expired. The ATL earlier expired in April 2021, but we gave the airline extension because of the disruption to aviation activities by the Cocid-19 pandemic, just as we did for other airlines, too. However, we wrote a reminder letter to the airline six months to the new expiring date, which is statutory,” the NCAA DG explained.
Nuhu threatened that the ATL or AOC of any other airline that owed the agency 5 per cent TSC/CSC would not be renewed henceforth and appealed to other carriers to pay up the backlog debts.
He noted that the TSC/CSC is always shared among five aviation agencies: NCAA, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
He added that the Federal Government share from this as the NCAA remits 25 per cent into the Federation account.
ATTENTION: The General Public should kindly take note.https://t.co/QVwapWZhTo#LetsFlyAzmanAir pic.twitter.com/IPJ2IjqyjB
— AzmanAir – #LetsFlyAzmanAir (@AzmanAir) September 15, 2022
Azman Air asked the general public to disregard the information stating that its AOC had been withdrawn. It stressed that its certificate is valid till October 2022.
Experienced Business reporter seeking the truth and upholding justice. Covered capital markets, aviation, maritime, road and rail, as well as economy. Email tips to jolaoluwa@icirnigeria.org. Follow on Twitter @theminentmuyiwa and on Instagram @Hollumuyiwah.