The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has withdrawn the operation licenses of three private jet operators for using their jets for commercial purposes.
The NCAA also gave the owners of private jets 72 hours to submit relevant documents.
The authority gave the directive in a statement dated April 16, 2024 published on its website and signed by the Acting Director General, Captain Chris Ona Najoma.
The NCAA said the use of private jets for commercial purposes had received the attention of the Minister Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, who issued marching orders for the stoppage of such acts.
The authority had in March this year issued warning to holders of the permit for non commercial flights, against engaging in the carriage of passenger, cargo or mail for hire and reward.
NCAA said, “The Authority had also deployed its officials to monitor activities of private jets at terminals across the airports in Nigeria. As a consequence of this heightened surveillance, no fewer than three private operators have been found to be involved in violation of the annexture provision of their PNCF and Part 91.14 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
“In line with our zero tolerance for violation of regulations, the Authority has suspended the PNCF of these operators. To further sanitize the general aviation sector, I have directed that’s a re-evaluation of all holders of PNCF be carried carried out on or before the 19th of April 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.
“All PNCF holder 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 utilize aircraft listed on their PNCF for commercial charter operations.”
The NCAA warned that only aircraft listed in the operation specifications of the AOC are authorized to be used in the provision of such charter services.
NCAA noted, “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.”
The authority advised the travelling public not to patronise any airline charter operator who does not hold a valid Air Operators Certificate issued by the NCAA, when they wish to procure charter operations services.