Medview ban: EC to scrutinise Nigerian airlines

The European Commission (EC) would henceforth thoroughly scrutinise Nigerian carriers designated to Europe following allegations that Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Medview, presented documents that did not correlate with what it presented to the EC.   A source close to an EC official told Woleshadare.net that for the intervention of the Director- General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Usman Muhtar, the car rier would have been out rightly banned rather than the ban on the aircraft it used on the Lagos- London route. Already, some Nigerian carriers have been designated to Europe. Despite their certification back home, this could pose serious and more stringent checks and scrutiny on them, especially to Europe and the United States.

Medview

The ban, according to stakeholders, is a huge stain on the airline and an indictment on the aviation regulatory body.   A source who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, stated that the Nigerian flag carrier airline presented ‘false documents’ to the EC, which, after investigation and checks, found out that they did not tally and barred Medview from operating its airplanes to Europe.   Consequently, the carrier quickly leased another airplane as recommended by the EC before it could be allowed to oper-ate to London Gatwick airport. Spokeman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, confirmed that the carrier was sanctioned because of wrong documentation.   He, however, said that the airline would go through another round of certification by EC and NCAA.

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Adurogboye said that the event of past weeks was very unfortunate, but noted that the carrier was planning to correct the defects noticed by the EC in the papers it presented to it.   He said that an operations audit has become necessary following the EC ban, which listed the airline among 181 carriers barred from the European airspace.   NCAA had, penultimate week, stated that the outcome of the audit would determine steps to be taken by the regulatory body and its interaction with the EU over the listing of Medview. It explained that the audit was aimed at arriving at a resolution as well as getting the ban on the airline lifted.   The regulatory agency added that the proposed meeting was part of a series of engagements with the EC, following a failed application by Medview Airline for a Third Country Operator Authorisation to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

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The NCAA noted that Medv iew’s application failed during the verification of documents it submitted, as they were found not to comply with Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005.   The regulator also explained that it received the notification of non-compliance through the office of the Nigerian Mission to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Upon receipt of the notification, the NCAA Director-General, Captain Muhtar Usman, met with top officials of European Commission in Gaborone, Botswana, during the Regional Safety Oversight Organisation Conference last February.

NCAA disclosed that extensive discussions aimed at resolving the matter were held at the meeting, while it also engaged the management of Medview in an attempt to smoothen the issues arising from the failed application to EASA. But the outcome was not the one envisaged.   It would be recalled that the EC Air Safety Committee invited NCAA and Medview for a tripartite meeting in Brussels on the 25th –26th April 2017.   After the deliberations, the EC, with the full support of the European Union (EU) Air Safety Committee unanimously decided to ban Medview Airlines.   This ban was in accordance with the common criteria set out in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005. But the EC said the NCAA, has expressed readiness to consider the re-inclusion of Med- View Airlines on the EU Air Safety List immediately all issues related to non-compliance are resolved with the EASA.

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Wole Shadare