LAGOS FEBRUARY 6, 2017 – First Nation Airways has expressed surprised over the fine meted to the airline, saying the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) statement that was released Sunday that contained a sanction was done in bad faith.
It said the statement was silent on the fact that that the carrier had immediately filed an appeal against the sanctions in accordance with the requirements of Nig. CARs 1.10.
The carrier, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Rasheed Yusuf, said the fact that NCAA elected to go public on a Sunday, without any need to rush to media and by deliberately withholding the fact that “we have appealed the sanctions in accordance with the relevant regulation is in bad faith and showed the Authority’s tendency of regulation by media in a very sensitive industry”.
His words: “It is our position that on the on the day that the said flight was ramp inspected, the captain had a valid medical license. We have also drawn NCAA’s attention to the need to address the bureaucracy associated with the general license and medical renewals process with the Authority.”
He disclosed that the company would cooperate with NCAA in working to improve the current challenges with respect to license renewal, adding that the airline admit no wrong doing and despite this position consider the level of financial fine arbitrary and at variance with the levels set out in the relevant section of Nig.CARs.
To him, the essence of Nig. CARs is corrective rather than cause airline injury, explaining that they would be working the appeal and review of the sanction with NCAA.
