The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority have begun an economic and financial audit of some domestic airlines passing through what industry stakeholders have described as financial challenges.
Already, the aviation industry regulator had audited Dana Air and development had led to the withdrawal the operating licence of the carrier by the agency
Top industry sources close to the development said the regulator was currently auditing at least two other domestic carriers to ascertain their financial health.
“NCAA DG has mandated a team to audit three domestic airlines to ascertain if they can still continue operation. Dana Air is one of them. This development led the agency to stop Dana from operating. We don’t know whether the two remaining carriers would fail the audit too,” a top official of the NCAA told our correspondent on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter.
Meanwhile, the development came barely weeks after Aero Contractors announced the suspension of its operations. It is unclear if the carrier is having financial crisis but the management complained of skyrocketing aviation fuel prices, foreign exchange crisis, among others.
When contacted on whether the NCAA DG has set up a team/panel to conduct an economic and financial audit on three named airlines, the spokesperson for NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye, said, “I am not aware. All I know is that NCAA has a standing audit committee for airlines.”
Meanwhile, the NCAA has stated that it expects Dana Air to commence remedial actions to salvage the situation with its operations.
Adurogboye advised Dana Air to act fast so that it could commence operations as soon as possible.
He said, “The airline should consider taking remedial actions so that it can commence operations as soon as possible. However, in the main time, it is expected that they refund their passengers or renegotiate with them. Dana Air should fix its issues as quickly as possible.”
