The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is auditing Azman Air after a series of incidents involving its Boeing 737 aircraft.
The regulatory agency disclosed this in a letter of suspension of air operations it sent to Azman Air on Monday night after the said aircraft had a tyre burst during landing.
Aviation sources said the airline received the letter dated March 15, 2021 Monday night.
News of the audit comes after Dateline Nigeria exclusively reported earlier today that NCAA had ordered the company to suspend air operations after experiencing two tyre bursts within one month.
In the letter, which was signed by NCAA’s Director General, Captain Musa Nuhu, the authority intimated Azman Air that it had “constituted a team of inspectors to conduct an audit of the organization.”
“The result of the audit,” it emphasized, “must be found satisfactory by the Authority prior to considering the restoration of the privileges of the Operations Specifications to your organization to further operate the aircraft type.”
The regulatory body also directed the airline to immediately suspend the operation of the B737 aircraft in its fleet.
The NCAA advised Azman Air to “ensure strict compliance” with the directives.
In a separate statement to journalists, Captain Nuhu said the suspension was issued pursuant to Section 35(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and Part 1 .3 .3 .3(A) of the Nigerian Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015.
“The NCAA regrets the inconvenience this action may cause to the public,
particularly to AZMAN air passengers but the need to ensure safety of Air Transport and protect the public interest, cannot not be compromised,” he said.
The NCAA, he said, would view any violations of its safety regulations seriously.
Dateline Nigeria earlier reported that Monday’s incident was the second for the airline in one month.
On February 16, a Boeing 737 belonging to the company with over 100 passengers onboard, burst a tyre on landing at the 18L runway of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The incident caused flights to be delayed before they were subsequently diverted to the airport’s international runaway.
Managing Director of Azman Air, Faisal Abdulmunaf did not respond to a request for comment from Dateline Nigeria.
The airline had however announced on its twitter handle that it was suspending all its operations to undergo safety processes.
“Due to our Strong Stance on Safety, Azman Air will be undergoing an Audit of its Safety Processes as supervised by the Regulators
“IN THIS REGARDS, ALL OUR OPERATIONS IS HEREBY SUSPENDED.
“We are on our toes to restore operations within a short period. Kindly accept our apologies.”
