The concerns raised recently by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, over the misuse of private jets for illegal commercial activities have been validated after a government task force uncovered evidence of illegal operations.
The task force set up by the minister to investigate the operations is led by the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi and recently held a press conference in Lagos where its preliminary findings which revealed that foreign-registered private jets are the primary culprits in violating civil aviation regulations for charter flights were released.
The spokesperson of the task force, Roland Iyayi said the findings also reveal a significant surge in private business jets operating in Nigeria, from 44 in 2005 to 157 currently, representing a 357% hike, saying that these aircraft have for a long time, evaded scrutiny by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) due to their foreign registration.
The task force also revealed that it uncovered a pattern of illegal charter operations involving not just small-time operators but also high-net-worth individuals using their private jets. Other illicit activities linked to these operators include passenger manifest manipulation and regulatory non-compliance.
“When you have a permit for non-commercial flight, it gives you the privilege to operate your aircraft for private purposes. It is an aberration to now take the same aircraft on a PNCF to now put it on somebody else’s AON. What that suggests is that, you deliberately try to flout the provisions of what the regulation says.
“Even more alarming is the fact, we have uncovered that the illegal air charter operations are not only restricted to the small operators in the business, we found that some high-net-worth individuals who use their private jets for commercial charter, the moat complicit in all these illegal charters are the foreign registered aircraft that do not come under the purview the NCAA,” Iyayi said.
He also said while they can’t reveal the exact financial loss to the government, the task force confirms that the illegal operations have resulted in substantial revenue leakage.
He said to address the issue, the task force has been mandated to inventory all Private Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF) holders and implement measures to prevent illegal charter operations, investigate the persistence of illegal charter activities despite existing regulations, verify the authenticity and validity of all pilot and crew licenses and recommend sanctions for violators and strengthen regulatory oversight.
While speaking, Sanusi said that despite ongoing investigations, illegal charters continue unabated and encouraged public whistleblowers to come forward with information, assuring them of anonymity.
“We need to do on the spot checks to make sure that, we report it to the authorities to stop these illegal charters and we are doing that and would continue to do that,” he said.