The public has been told not to blow the recent fuel contamination discovered in the tank of Max Air out of proportion.
Mazi Osita Okonkwo, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) in an interview with Nairametrics in Lagos said that the incident was one off, which doesn’t happen regularly in the sector.
He also said that since the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) was conducting an investigation into the serious incident, the agency should be allowed to perform its duties and come out with safety recommendations to prevent recurrence.
Okonkwo also said that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was already working with the regulator in the oil industry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to unravel the source of the contamination.
He declared that UNA since the commencement of operations over two years ago, was yet to experience such contamination in its supply.
He said: “I think it’s a one-off thing, it’s not a universal or sector thing. So, we shouldn’t over-blow it. It’s an incident that happened; it could have come from the operator or from the oil marketing company. It’s something that is a one-off and we’ve never experienced it in the two years of operations. So, I can’t really say how or why it happened.
- “My understanding also is that most of these fuelers obtained the fuel from the same source. Maybe the browser is the one that has the issue or the point of loading or offloading that creates that kind of a problem. So, the NCAA, the operators, the fuelers and the NNPC are all working on that and I don’t think we’ll ever see it again.”
Okonkwo, however, said that it was necessary for the airlines and their technical crew to be more vigilant, while all the pre-flight operations or activities must be done by operators and the fuelers, describing this as the standard procedure in the industry.
On the increase in the cost of Petroleum Premium Spirit (PMS) and Jet A1 (aviation fuel), Okonkwo said this was expected.
According to him, once there is inflation in the economy, costs are expected to rise at all levels; operationally and administratively.
He explained that unlike the other economies, which experience gradually inflammatory related costs, the Nigerian situation had always been spikes in costs.
He explained that some of the rising costs would be absorbed by the airlines, while the others may be passed to the passengers.
- He added: “We wait until after some time and then we have an adjustment, which becomes very difficult to manage. But, we are reacting to it. Obviously, there are some we will absorb directly.
- “There are some we will pass to passengers by adjusting the fares. But it’s not going to be immediate because we know that the gradual increase is not what people can easily absorb,” he said
