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Nigeria retains US Cat1 aviation status

By on September 26, 2014

The Nigerian aviation industry has retained the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s Category One Status certification.

With this, Nigerian airlines can continue to operate direct flights into the US.

A top official of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority disclosed this to our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday.

The official, who did not want to be quoted because he was not permitted to speak on the issue, said the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, was presented with the certificate in the US.

According to the source, the certificate was issued after the NCAA and other aviation agencies closed all the identified open items when the FAA team visited the country in April.

The source said, “The minister got the certificate retaining Nigeria’s Cat1 status from the American FAA, which informed him that Nigeria had continued to meet the safety oversight requirements under the international aviation standards.

“The minister said that the retention of the Cat1 Status was hard earned and promised that the government would continue to ensure that the country retained the status and other future safety certifications in a seamless way.”

He added that Chidoka was accompanied on the trip by the Acting Director-General, NCAA, Mr. Benedict Adeyileka; Director of Air Transport Management in the Federal Ministry of Aviation and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation Reforms.

The US FAA had audited the Nigerian aviation industry between March 31 and April 3, 2014. Following the audit, the NCAA was given 120 days to come up with an action plan to correct the deficiencies discovered.

The Cat1 audit, also known as International Aviation Safety Assessment, is a programme established by the FAA with the purpose of ensuring that all aircraft operators registered outside the US that operate to or from the country are properly licensed and are subject to safety oversight provided by a competent civil aviation authority in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.

Efforts by our correspondent to get the NCAA spokesman, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, to comment officially on the certification proved abortive as he did not pick his calls and did not respond to a text message sent to his mobile number as of press time.

 

 

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