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The Nigeria Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA), on Tuesday, issued the first Air Operator
Certificate (AOC) under the new federal government mandatory
recertification order, to Arik Air.

Harold Demuren, the
director general, during a conference at the regulatory agency’s
headquarters annex in Lagos, disclosed that the federal government,
after the 2005 and 2006 air crashes in the country, directed the
authority to undertake a complete recertification of domestic airlines,
which is aimed at ensuring safety in the industry.

“Several years ago,
we had terrible accidents in Nigeria, and the federal government gave
out safety reform agenda to enforce international safety standards. As
a result of this, our airlines had to go through ICAO (International
Civil Aviation Organisation), USFAA (United States Federal Aviation
Authority) safety certification, among others,” Mr. Demuren said.

The authority’s
boss disclosed that the airline is to obtain the certificate after
having successfully completed the licensing and recertification
process, adding that the carrier has been working towards achieving the
feat for a long time with the US FAA.

“Today, we will be
issuing for the first time in Nigeria, after the recertification
exercise order, an Air Operator Certificate to a Nigerian carrier,
which is Arik Air. It should be noted that we have been working closely
with the FAA for the certification so as to be able to have this
airline commence direct flights to America,” he said.

“Once we complete
this exercise, other airlines in the country will pass through the same
baptism. They must demonstrate compliance by flying their planes for
about 50 hours without any passenger onboard, just like Arik did,” he
said.

Long, tedious, expensive process

Accepting the
certificate, Arumemi Johnson, chairman, Arik Air, said that the journey
to attaining the requirements for the certificate was very difficult.

“Today is a
historic day, and we are very proud to receive this certificate. It’s
been a very long, tedious and expensive process, but be that as it may,
the truth is that we will not play with lives by compromising safety,”
he said.

Mr. Johnson,
however, called on the US FAA team at the conference to fast track the
process of granting the country the highly coveted Category One
certification, which guarantees the carrier the privilege to fly
directly from Nigeria to America.

“For any Nigerian
carrier to be fully viable, it has to get that category one, so we need
that certification, as we promise to continue doing our best,” he said.

“We wish to assure you that we will maintain this standard and we
hope to get the Category One Certificate as soon as possible,” he said.