The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has dismissed allegations that Azman Air sold an aircraft without proper deregistration or adherence to regulatory procedures.
The NCAA stated that its records show no evidence of such a sale and challenged the accusers to provide proof.
The NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, told the PUNCH that the aircraft in question was sent out of the country for maintenance, a standard practice in the aviation industry.
“Azman brought an aircraft into Nigeria that needed maintenance. Airlines are always wanting to maintain their aircraft for safety reasons. The aircraft travelled out of the country for maintenance, right? We call this a C-check,” he said.
Regarding the claims of a sale, Achimugu emphasised that NCAA records do not support such an assertion. “The aircraft cannot be sold without being deregistered in Nigeria by the NCAA. We have not deregistered the aircraft, so it cannot have been sold. Nobody will buy an aircraft anywhere in the world that has not been deregistered properly,” he stated.
He further noted that aircraft undergoing maintenance outside Nigeria may remain there for extended periods. “Aircraft that go out for maintenance, some of them can be there for a few months, and some of them can be there for as long as two years,” Achimugu said.
The NCAA also addressed the accusation of the aircraft’s transponder being turned off, allegedly while flying over Iranian airspace. Achimugu clarified that the issue is outside the agency’s jurisdiction.
“The accusers, it is on them to prove their case from our end. For now, there is no such thing. The issue of the transponder being turned off didn’t happen in Nigeria, so we have no jurisdiction. The accuser claimed it happened over Iranian airspace. We have written to the Iranian CAA for confirmation on this,” he disclosed.
A few months ago, there was controversy surrounding the status of two aircraft, which a foreign media outlet reported had been sold without proper documentation.
The two Nigerian-registered aircraft were allegedly smuggled to Mahran Air by Azman Air and deregistered without the knowledge of the NCAA or adherence to due process.
According to the report, one of the aircraft was flying from Kano to Kabul when its crew turned off the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transponder at an altitude of 39,000 feet after entering Iranian airspace. The aircraft was said to have eventually landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
