Contrary to the claim of the promoters of Green Africa Airways that plans have reached an advanced stage for it to commence scheduled flight operations in the Nigerian aviation industry, it can be revealed that the impending airline is still in the first stage of obtaining its Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC).
Without a valid AOC, no airline can carry out commercial or private flight operations within or outside the country.
Investigation carried out by our correspondent revealed that out of the five stage processes an applicant is expected to go through and close before obtaining the AOC, the airline is still on stage one of the exercise.
It was also gathered that the promoters of the airline were yet to show any form of seriousness on their AOC application and may eventually not get the certificate any moment soon.
A source close to the Ministry of Transport, Aviation Unit, had confided in our correspondent over the weekend that the much touted airline only put up an appearance once at the headquarters of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Besides, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, the General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA in an interview with our correspondent on the issue at the agency’s headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos confirmed that the airline was on its first stage of AOC processes.
He said: “Green Africa Airways is one stage one of AOC processes. So far, there is no demonstrated seriousness that they want to run an airline on our list.”
Adurogboye insisted that there are five processes for granting AOC to any interested organisations, which included pre-application phase. The pre-application phase according to him entails initial enquiry or request about NCAA’s certification, obtaining of Civil Aviation Regulation (CAR) and advisory; provision of forms to prospective applicants.
The next stage he said was document compliance phase, which involves certification team reviewing applicant’s documents for compliance acceptance/approval. This also includes formal application, letter of compliance, training and acceptance.
He added: “The others are AOC process, which is known as Demonstration and Inspection Phase. This stage involves evaluation by certification team, and applicant’s demonstration of compliance’ evaluation of management effectiveness, inspection of station(s) facilities, flight operations, maintenance and records.”
“The next is called certification phase, which allows the intending operator for approval of AOC and Operation Specification (OpSpec) with coordination with Director for Safety Oversight and Director-General of NCAA.”
Besides, a check though the website of Boeing aircraft manufacturing company did not indicate that the impending airline placed an order for any aircraft as claimed by its promoters sometime in 2018.
The promoters of the airline had disclosed plans to acquire 100 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft at a whopping sum of $11.7 billion, which brought curiosity from the players in the sector. The order if confirmed would have been the largest Boeing order from an African carrier.
Although the order is to be split into two, the deal still remained the largest in Africa and the little known airline would be setting a record in Nigeria’s wobbling airline industry.
Mr. Babawande Afolabi, the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Green Africa Airways, in a report had described the deal with Boeing as historic for the Nigerian and African aviation industry.
Afolabi said, “This landmark deal takes us much closer to our long-held dream of building a world-class airline that will unlock a new realm of positive possibilities for millions of customers.
“This deal is a bold symbol of the dynamism, resilience and soaring entrepreneurial drive of the next generation of Nigerians and Africans.”
Source: Independent
