The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said Nigerian airlines cannot enter the United States (US) because, like every nation, it has to satisfactorily pass the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme and attain category 1 status.
The authority’s acting director-general Capt. Chris Najomo stated this in a press release on Tuesday in response to a report about the purported ban on Nigerian airlines by the United States.
“Due to the wrong impression such news could create, it has become expedient that we put this report in its proper perspective,” Najomo said.
“Upon attaining Category 1, Nigerian airlines would be permitted to operate Nigerian registered aircraft and dry-leased foreign registered aircraft into the United States, in line with the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).”
Najomo recalled that the first time Nigeria attained category 1 was in August 2010, while the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted another safety assessment on Nigeria in 2014.
He said a further safety assessment was conducted on Nigeria in 2017, after which Nigeria retained her category 1 status.
The NCAA boss said that with effect from September 2022, the FAA de-listed category 1 countries who, after a two-year period, had no indigenous operator to provide service to the US or carrying airline code of a US operator.
“Also removed from the Category 1 list were countries, who the FAA was not providing technical assistance to, based on identified areas of non-compliance to international standards for safety oversight.
“No Nigerian operator has provided service into the United States using a Nigerian registered aircraft within the 2-year period preceding September, 2022.
“So, it was expected that Nigeria would be de-listed as were other countries who fell within this category. Nigeria was, therefore, de-listed since 2022 and was duly informed of this action in 2022,” he said.
According to him, the delisting of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in the nation’s oversight system.
Ojomo said Nigeria had undergone comprehensive International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) safety and security audits and recorded no significant concern.
“It is furthermore necessary to add that a Nigerian operator can still operate into the U.S. using an aircraft wet-leased from a country who has a current Category 1 status,” he said.
