NCAA Suspends Three Private Jet Owners Over Violation Of Certificate

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it has suspended three private jet owners for engaging in commercial operations in violation of their certificates.

This is as the apex regulatory body said that it has set April 19, 2024 deadline for the re-evaluation of all holders of Permit for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) to ascertain their compliance with regulatory requirements.

A statement personally signed by Capt. Chris Najomo, Acting Director-General, Civil Aviation (ADGCA) said that the trio was suspended for violating the Permit for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) certificate issued to the private jet owners.

Najomo in the statement had said that the NCAA set up a team to monitor the activities of the private jet owners who were found guilty of the annexure provision of their PNCF and Part 9114 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) 2023.

He insisted that the apex civil aviation body had zero tolerance for violation of regulations.

To further sanitise the general aviation sector, Najomo emphasised that the agency had called for a re-evaluation of all holders of PNCF on or before April 19, 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.

He added: “All PNCF holders will be required to submit relevant documents to the authority within the next 72 hours.

“This riot act is also directed at existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders, who utilise aircraft listed on their PNCF for commercial charter operations.

“It must be emphasised that only aircraft listed in the Operation Specifications of the AOC are authorised to be used in the provision of such charter services. Any of those AOC holders who wish to use the aircraft for charter operations must apply to the NCAA to delist the affected aircraft from the PNCF and include it into the AOC operations specification.”

Najomo for the umpteenth time appealed to the travelling public not to patronise any airline charter operator who does not hold a valid AOC issued by the NCAA, whenever they intended to procure charter operations services.

He further encouraged the legitimate players in the aviation industry to report the activity of such unscrupulous elements to the NCAA promptly for necessary action.

Over the years, there have been allegations that most of the private jet owners are illegally involved in hire and reward services.

The NCAA recently said that it had deployed its officials to the General Aviation Terminals (GAT) and private wings of the nation’s airports to monitor activities of the PNCF holders.