Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
NIGERIAN Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has clarified further and listed operations that will take place under the umbrella of Essential Flights asking all operators to be guided.
This is just as the NCAA says that with the exception of aircraft in a state of emergency, request for approval for other flights is required.
The regulators in a directive from the Office of the Director General, Captain Musa Nuhu, to all Nigerian operators and foreign operators flying into Nigeria with ref: NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/107 23 March 2020 confirmed as the following as Essential Flights:
According to the statement, aircraft in state of emergency, over flights, operations related to humanitarian aid, medical and relief flights, alternate aerodromes identified in the flight plan (including those being used for extended diversion time operations), technical stop where passengers do not disembark, cargo flights and other safety related operations are Essential Flights.
The NCAA in another letter with Ref: NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/108 also directed airlines to deploy measures including temperature check by all without any exception to protect the passengers and the general public against the spread of the COVID-19.
The measures enumerated are, “All personnel without exception entering any airport terminal must undergo temperature check and hand cleaning with sanitizer (all domestic and international terminals).
“All passengers without exception must undergo temperature check and hand cleaning with sanitizer at all terminals (domestic and international) before being allowed to board aircraft.
“All aircraft must be disinfected before each flight,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Aeronautical Information Services in response to this has issued a circular Series A 05/2020 23 Mar 2020 for information, guidance and necessary action.
In the circular signed by the Director of Operations, Pwajok Lawrence for the Managing Director/Chief Executive titled: Restrictions of international flight operations into Nigeria, “Approval may be given, upon request, for the purposes of the following operations:
“ Over flights, Operations related to humanitarian aids, medical and relief flights; alternate aerodrome identified in the flight plan (including those being used for Extended Diversion Time Operations (EDTOs]), technical landings where passengers do not disembark, cargo flights and other safety and security related operations.
According to the circular, request for approval with respect to all the above flight operations, with the exception of aircraft in a state of emergency shall be addressed to the Honourable Minister of Aviation Federal Government of Nigeria, Sen. Hadi Sirika as well as the DG NCAA Captain Musa Nuhu.
