The director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman has said that the agency sanctioned 90 airline personnel for safety infringement between 2014 and 2017.
Speaking at the Aviation Round Table (ART) Q2 Business Breakfast Meeting held in Ikeja on Thursday, Usman who was represented at the event by the agency’s consumer protection agency, Mr. Adamu Abdullahi said 15 pilots, five cabin crew, four engineers, a private security firm, four aircraft maintenance organizations (AMOs) and five airlines were affected by the sanction.
Thereafter, Usman reeled out statistics of happenings in the country’s aviation sector.
He disclosed that the 21 airports in the country records 305 aircraft movements daily while a total of 25, 528 passengers made up of 12, 761 arrivals and 12, 767 departures are processed daily at the airports.
Between January and December 2016, he said domestic passenger traffic hit 10.6 million, and international, 4.2 million; flight frequencies, 176, 947 and 43, 386 for domestic and international respectively.
During the same period in 2017, domestic passenger traffic was 10 million while international passenger figure totalled 4 million, bringing the total to 14 million.
Flight frequency, domestic, was 183, 216 and foreign, 39, 197 bringing the total to 222, 413.
Ticket sales (domestic) from January to December 2016 stood at ₦79.4 billion and international, ₦342.9 billion, thus bringing the total to ₦422.4 billion.
During the same period in 2017, ticket sales, domestic, amounted to ₦93.6 and international, ₦411.5 billion thus bringing the total to ₦505.1 billion.
Despite the low January 2017 sales occasioned by Abuja runway rehabilitation, ticket sold in 2017 higher was than 2016 by ₦82.7 billion
He attributed the increase to stable forex regime, effective implementation of executive order on the ease of doing business and resumption of flights to the Maiduguri Airport.
Cargo domestic and international cargo sales sales from January to December 2016 stood at ₦285,169,979.79 while cargo sales for the same period in 2017 totalled ₦400,900,439.09 showing a difference of ₦115,730,459.30 from the preceding year.
On what the achievements recorded, Usman said the recertified 86 heliports/helidecks and helipad, received 29 air operators’ certificate (AOC) applications, issued AOCs to three airlines, renewed AOCs for 11 airlines, while unspecified applications are at various stages of processing.
He also said 25 foreign carriers fly into Nigeria, adding that the agency screened and certified 507 personnel from various entities, certified 80 aviation security instructors to deliver security training in Nigeria and received 90 applications for registration of remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS).
He also disclosed that four NCAA and other aviation security instructors had been trained by the United Nations on counter terrorism
The director general also announced that 26 drones/remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) were undergoing security clearance at the office of national security adviser (ONSA) adding that licences were issued for five and two remote operating certificates (ROC) granted.
The director general pledged Nigeria’s commitment to continue to participate in major global aviation events, increase consultation with airline operators and stakeholders, and ensure compliance to ICAO standards and recommended practices (SARPs) and the Nigerian civil aviation regulations.
“The cordial relationship between NCAA and aviation roundtable should be sustained for promotion and development of the industry. Whatever gains in aviation today cannot be achieved without the cooperation of all
