NCAA suspends Air Nigeria operations

By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor(The Nation)

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) yesterday temporarily suspended the operations of Air Nigeria to enable it carry out a financial audit of the carrier.

The suspension came nine days after the NCAA cleared the carrier to resume operations after it completed a routine audit of the airline.

The last audit stemmed from the suspended strike embarked upon by pilots and engineers of the airline over issues bordering on welfare.

Though, the airline operated early morning flights into Abuja yesterday, it was however, forced to shut down operations in compliance with the NCAA directive.

Confirming the development yesterday, spokesperson of Air Nigeria, Mr Sam Ogbogoro, explained that the workers were not on strike, but had to shut down operation to adhere to the directive of the NCAA, 

Ogbogoro in a telephone interview said: “ Our staff are not on strike, but we merely shut down operations in line with the directive of NCAA, which asked us to do so to enable it  carry out a financial audit of the airline.” 

“Nine days ago, the NCAA just gave us a clean bill of health, so when it directed us to shut down yesterday, we had to comply.” 

At the Murtala Muhammed Airport ( MMA) terminal two of the Lagos Airport, the counters of Air Nigeria for both ticket and check in were empty as the staff had vacated the premises.
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