NCAA to carry out financial audit on Air Peace, Arik Air
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) announced it is carrying out economic and financial audits of eight remaining domestic airlines in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, NCAA, during an interview with journalists in Lagos on Wednesday.
Last month saw the grounding of Dana Airlines and the temporary suspension of Aero Contractors services last month, due to the impact of the challenging environment on its daily operations, which led to failures in meeting financial obligations.
Captain Nuhu revealed that the audit is to determine the financial health conditions of the airlines, adding that they have commenced intensive financial and economic audits on three other indigenous airlines, which will be followed by the other five airlines soon.
“While Aero Contractors voluntarily suspended its operations, NCAA grounded the services of Dana Air, following its alleged failure to run safe operations.
“The remaining eight scheduled airlines are: Air Peace, Arik Air, Max Air, Green Africa, United Nigeria, Overland, Azman Air and Ibom Air,” he said.
He added that the scarcity of foreign exchange and high price of Jet A1, has brought about challenges in Nigeria’s aviation industry, and urged that the regulator will not keep its guard down on safety.
“We are currently conducting financial and economic audits of airlines in the country. We have done two or three and other airlines will be taken in batches. I will discuss with the airline’s management on the way forward.
“Like I said, we have a financial crisis and we don’t want it to cross over into a safety crisis. We need to manage the situation.
“For now, we remain focused while working to address the solution to the financial difficulties in the airlines. This cannot go on forever, so we are working round-the-clock to find a solution.
“Yes, it is a very difficult situation, but we are just going to do what we are doing. We are working together and collaborating with others to address the situation in the industry,” he added.
On the suspension of Dana Air operations, he said that during the financial and economic audit of the airline, the NCAA discovered some “grave concerns” in the operations of the airline that could affect safety.
