NCAA to Nigerians: We suspended Azman Air to avert national tragedy

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority says it suspended the operations of local airline, Azman Air, to avert a national tragedy and loss of life which may become inevitable if the airline continues to operate with disregard for safety procedures.

NCAA Spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said this in a statement on Friday titled, ‘NCAA Puts The Record Straight On Azman Air Suspension’ which was made available to The PUNCH.

He said the civil aviation regulator of the Nigerian airspace will not be blackmailed and or threatened while carrying out its statutory responsibility.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the NCAA suspended the operations of the airline on Tuesday after the airline suffered three incidents in quick succession. The NCAA had also ordered the airline to undergo a safety audit to determine the root cause(s) of the incidents, and recommend corrective actions to forestall re-occurrence.

Azman in a statement had, however, claimed that the airline complied with safety standards, and was safe.

But in the statement on Friday, the NCAA said, “Over a period of about six weeks, Azman Air Boeing 737 aircraft operating scheduled passenger flights were involved in three separate incidents, resulting in damage to the aircraft in each case but with no loss of life, for which we are grateful to God.”Punch