20th November, 2017
The Managing Director of Medview Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, on Monday faulted the call on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to increase the number of aircraft required by an airline to secure an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC).
Bankole spoke to newsmen at the sidelines of the ongoing International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) World Aviation Forum in Abuja.
A group, the Aviation Round Table Initiative (ARTI), had urged the NCAA to increase the number from the current two to a minimum of 20 aircraft.
Bankole, reacting to the call, said that the number of aircraft to be operated was an issue of regulation and not something that should be bandied around to frustrate the airlines who were already grappling with various challenges.
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“ARTI cannot talk about AOC or aircraft acquisition, and with due respect to my fathers and brothers at the ARTI, the idea for the regulator to increase stake on the minimum number of aircraft for operation doesn’t follow.
“What should matter is how you use what you have to build capacity and entrench the safety needs.
“Aviation is not a child’s play and we have to contend with a lot of challenges from training of staff to maintenance, which last year we did, and this is the reality of the cost intensive nature of the business,” he said.
Commenting on the forum, Bankole said it would be an opportunity to discuss some of the financial challenges in the aviation industry in Nigeria and provide solutions that would be beneficial to the country.
He noted that though Nigeria was behind in aviation infrastructure development, the forum was the perfect opportunity to showcase what the country had to offer to the world.