Azman Air resumes service, signs MoU with NCAA on N1.2 billion debt

Barely 24 hours after its Air Transport Licence (ATL) was suspended due to its failure to renew the documents and its inability to pay back the legacy debt of N1.2 billion to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Azman Air has returned to service.

A source close to NCAA in Lagos confided in our correspondent that the troubled airline had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of N50 million monthly on the repayment of its N1.2 billion legacy debt accrued from the 5% Ticket Sales Charge and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC), which was collected from air travellers and cargo operators.

It was learnt that the formalities for the MoU signing would be finalised today at the NCAA headquarters in Abuja, but the regulatory agency had already lifted the sanction on the airline following its compliance with the various agreements reached.

The 5% TSC/CSC is shared among five aviation agencies; NCAA, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

NCAA gets 58% from the total 5% of charges, which is the major revenue earning for the agency, while the other four agencies share the remaining 42 per cent in different proportions.

Besides, our correspondent gathered that the airline had also submitted its tax and security clearance forms to the NCAA, after its initial reluctance to do so for about 10 months without any basic reason.

Tax and security clearance forms are two of the requirements for issuance of ATL or Air Operators Licence (AOC) or their renewals by NCAA.

Since the operations of the airline were suspended on Thursday, its management had held a series of meetings with the NCAA.