September 16, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the Air Transport Licence (ATL) of Azman Air, for failure to remit N1.2 billion Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) from passengers.
The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, in a statement on the development, said the airline was suspended for failure to also submit security clearance for the renewal of its ATL, which expired in April 2021.
Nuhu said the N1.2 billion debt was the revenue accrued from the five percent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo sales Charge (CSC), collected from air travellers by the airline.
THEWILL reported that the TSC/CSC is shared among five aviation agencies – NCAA; Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA); the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB); Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
While the NCAA gets 58 percent from the total 5 percent of TSC/CSC as major revenue earning for the agency, the other four agencies share the remaining 42 percent.
Nuhu decried that the regulatory agency had made efforts to recover the debt from the airline over the years, but “the carrier was recalcitrant in paying back the sum despite collecting it from the passengers.”
Azman Air was granted AOC in May 2014 by the NCAA following a two-year-long certification process. The airline commenced flight services immediately with its inaugural flight to Kano from Lagos.
The document issued to Azman Air allowed it to operate as a passenger, cargo, scheduled and charter flight operator. The certificate is renewed every two years in Nigeria by the NCAA. However, the withdrawal of the airline’s ATL rendered its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) invalid.
Nuhu told aviation journalists that its management had held series of meetings with Azman Air leadership on how to pay back the debt, but both parties failed to reach an agreement.
He said that the airline’s management had promised to pay back the sum of N10 million monthly as part of the N1.2 billion debt, but said the regulatory body insisted on N50 million monthly.
Nuhu also said that the airline could not provide its security clearance, which was one of the prerequisites for renewal of ATL.
“We didn’t suspend Azman Air’s Airline Operator certificate, but suspended their ATL, which had earlier expired.
“The ATL earlier expired in April 2021, but we gave the airline extension because of the disruption to aviation activities by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This was what we did for other airlines, too. However, we wrote a reminder letter to the airline six months to the new expiring date, which is statutory. Later, the airline requested for another extension of 90 days, but we only granted it 60 days.
“At the expiration of the 60 days, we also gave it 30 days reminder, which elapsed on Wednesday night, yet nothing was done by the airline”, Nuhu said, adding that the airline owed N1.2 billion as TSC/CSC.
“We invited them and set up a committee for that purpose. Azman said they would pay the sum of N10 million monthly out of the debt, which we refused. They later came up to N20 million, but we insisted on N50 million monthly.
“If we had agreed to the N10 million monthly, it means it will take them about 12 years to repay back the money it had already collected and by then, the money would have been lost”, he said.
Nuhu, who appealed to other carriers to pay up the backlog of debts, however, threatened that the ATL or AOC of any other airline that owed the agency’s five percent TSC/CSC would not be renewed.
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