The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has disclosed that airlines that fail to renew their Air Operator Certificates (AOCs) before they expire may be grounded.
This was confirmed in the NCAA’s regulations, which requires airline operators to renew their AOC’s at least 30 days before expiration. Airline operators are required by the NCAA to renew their AOCs every two years.
AOC is one of the most important certifications an airline obtains from the NCAA, as it approves operators’ operations.
What NCAA is saying about AOCs
The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said, “There are five stages involved in AOCs’ renewal, all of which are very crucial and are done with cautiousness to ensure the stages are duly passed.
“The initial stage, the operator or intended operator will write the authority and signify its intention for an exploratory meeting to discuss with them.
“After that, we start other phases through the final phase, in which the operator would conduct some flights and inspection of their base facilities to ensure that they are capable and approve what they have claimed in their inspection before they are approved for the AOC.
“The different five stages have different processes to ensure and confirm legitimacy as well financial and technical capabilities.
“If you wait till your AOC expires, that means you are not going to fly. If your AOC expires, you are grounded. The regulation says at least 30 days before expiration.
“But because of the difficulties they have meeting with certifications, the regulation says 30 days, but nothing stops you from meeting the regulation 60 or 90 days so that if there is any issue or challenge you have, you can resolve it before your AOC actually expires.”
