The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has expressed concern over the flouting of COVID-19 protocol at airports, and has threatened to withdraw the approval granted to airlines to resume domestic flight operations.
This was contained in a letter signed by Musa Nuhu, director-general of NCAA, on Monday.
According to NCAA, resumption of domestic operations was done on the basis that the airlines would comply with the COVID-19 protocol put in place by the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
In the letter titled: ‘Non-Compliance With COVID-19 Protocol’, which was addressed to airlines, the regulatory agency warned defaulters to desist from flouting the rules, or face severe sanctions, which may lead the the reversal of the approval granted to the affected operators.
“It has been brought to the notice of the NCAA that some domestic airline operators have not been complying with the COVID-19 protocol as released through all operators letter (AOL) DG 035/20 ref. NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/260 and advisory circular (AC) NCAA-AC-AMS-006 both dated September 4, 2020,” the letter read.
“Approvals for resumption of domestic operations are predicated on compliance with the above protocol. This is a warning to all domestic operators who are not in compliance to desist from such acts immediately.
“The continued non-compliance with the COVID-19 protocol will attract severe penalties up to and including cancellation of approval to resume domestic operations. Please be guided accordingly.”
Commercial flight operations were suspended in March after the country confirmed its index case of the virus, but the federal government granted approval for domestic flights to resume in July, while the international airspace was reopened on September 5, 2020.