‘Rogue operators’ pose serious threat to safety

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is worried over illegal charter operations in the country. Stakeholders are equally worried. The agency has read the riot act to the perpetrators just like it has done in the past. Can this fresh threat yield any positive results? The onus is on Capt. Chris Najomo and his team, writes, WOLE SHADARE

A popular option for the rich

 Private air charter has become a more popular option for travelers looking to fly with convenience and style in mind. However, not all air charter operators comply with the regulations and laws put in place by the aviation industry. Some do not meet the safety, operational, and regulatory standards that are necessary to be a reliable provider. This is what’s considered an illegal air charter.

Illegal charter operations exist in many places and not only in Nigeria. The United States of America is equally worried about their menace.

FAA sets the rules in the US

In May 2020, the FAA sent an information letter to pilots reminding them that it is illegal to provide transportation for compensation or hire to passengers when operating aircraft under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs).

At the same time, the FAA has recently engaged in several high-profile investigations, proposing large fines against operators who allegedly flew for-hire operations without having a FAR Part 135 charter certificate.

Among others, on August 21, 2020, the FAA proposed a fine of $576,400 against Bluefin Aviation Services out of Opa-Locka, Florida. On April 3, 2020, the FAA announced a proposed fine against B E L Aviation of Odessa, Texas. 

The fact is there are many ways that aircraft owners, operators, and private pilots can inadvertently violate FAA rules and operate what the FAA considers an illegal charter. This can result in FAA fines for every flight operated illegally (which can add up quickly), revocation of pilot licenses, and significant liability exposure if an accident or incident occurs during an illegal charter operation. 

Many aircraft owners and operators decide that they may not need full-time use of their aircraft, so they explore the possibility of sharing the use of their aircraft with friends and acquaintances. Frequently this involves paying rent or sharing the costs of a flight. While there are ways that this can be accomplished legally, there are many ways that this can go awry. 

NCAA issues fresh threat

The recent threat by the Acting Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Chris Najomo to clamp down on illegal charter operations in Nigeria sounds very familiar with a similar threat issued by a former DG of the authority, Capt. Musa Nuhu over the same issue and many others before them. It sounds very much like the same rhetoric.

The threats more than ever have emboldened the operators of this nefarious act, costing the agencies of government in aviation over N20 billion loss of revenue annually

This did not end there. Former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka equally said much about illegal charter operations in the country but all has ended up the same way with lamentation while ignoring the danger the operators pose to national security to the extent that these illegal operators account for about 70 percent of the commercial charter service segment of the air transport market in Nigeria today.

As of 2015, about 140 private jets operated in Nigeria, over 90 of them were said to be privately registered yet most of these aircraft were used for commercial purposes. Such a state of affairs is unacceptable making Najomo issue the threat of clamping down on them.

Najomo is highly encouraged to back his threat with concrete action and to ensure that revenues lost to these ‘rogue operators’ go to government coffers while encouraging the government to eliminate or reduce the spate of insurgency in some parts of the country which many attributed to the free movement of arms and dangerous equipment through illegal charter operations and aircraft movement.

Negative impact

It is perhaps these illegal operations that have spurned the high demand for private jets in Nigeria, such that some people now borrow money from financial institutions (at home and abroad) to buy private jets, register them in the countries where the aircraft were manufactured and ferry them to Nigeria to operate commercial charter.

Some banks in these countries lend money to Nigerians to acquire the jets and register them there under aircraft management and maintenance companies where they pay certain charges, while they use them to come and earn money in Nigeria.

They also come in with full foreign crew from those countries while servicing the loans from revenues earned locally from their operations.

Such is the lucrative nature of the business that by 2012, Nigeria had become the largest market for private jet demand in Africa.

It has been estimated that over N300 billion is repatriated by illegal charter operators overseas every year and these include profits from charter services, payment for leased aircraft, remuneration of foreign crew, and maintenance costs paid to foreign companies.

 For example, depending on the size of the aircraft, Nigerians who operate these aircraft pay about $500, 000 per month on lease while the pilot in command is paid about $10, 000 to $15, 000 per month as salary under the work schedule of one month on and one month off.

While they are off duty, these foreign pilots are still paid and each has the full compliments of a first-class or business-class return ticket from their country of citizenship. While in Nigeria they are provided accommodation, the equivalent of a five-star hotel with security.

Operators of these aircraft are reluctant to deregister them abroad and then register them locally because this means they would have to pay more for insurance.

High risks

 But that brings the element of risk in using privately registered aircraft to operate charter services because the aircraft passengers are not covered by insurance. So in case of an accident, the passengers’ families would not be entitled to any form of compensation.

Against the background that general aviation is the area that most countries use to train their manpower, Nigeria loses in many ways by allowing these illegal charter service providers to continue to thrive.

They have taken business from those duly registered as commercial charter operators who pay 5 percent charges to the regulatory authorities and they make Nigeria appear like a jungle without rules.

However, these aircraft are being used for charter services even when their certification by the regulatory body recognises them as private jets is a failure of regulation. The allegation is that the NCAA officials are aware of the illicit business but chose to look the other way.

Experts’ views

Describing the culprits as ‘Cartel’, Najomo said their activities have seriously affected the fortunes of the genuine and licensed charter operators, vowing that the aviation regulatory body had concluded plans to publish the names of the operators of the illegal business and to warn Nigerian elites not to fly aircraft that are not duly registered with the NCAA.

Holders of Air Transport Licence (ATL) and Airline Operating Permit (AOP) with valid AOC, he said are the only authorised operators to carry out charter operations. Many a time, private jet owner clandestinely turn their aircraft into charter operations.

“‘Charter operators are no longer making money because owners of private jets are not duly registered for the operations they carry out which are risky to the aviation industry. It is a cartel and we are publishing their names and asking Nigerian elites not to fly them”.

Chairman, West Link Airlines, Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia described offenders as economic saboteurs, just as stated that the regulatory agency needed the support of all to effectively sanitise the industry.

The West Link owner, Mshiella explained that full autonomy of the NCAA would further empower and embolden it to carry out some reform processes in the sector, lamenting that a few of the operators who carry out this act were “connected” in the country.

“The real truth is that there are powerful people behind all these illegal actions. If they were not, it would have been easy to flush them out. They want to live big. Some of these people are in a position to stop this in a minute, but they are involved in it. If we dig deeper, we will find them out,” he added.

Last line

The report by the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) that the aircraft operated by Flint Aero carrying Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu and 12 other passengers that crashed in Ibadan operated illegally further spurred the NCAA into action in a bid to go after illegal charter operators to remedy the situation.

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