First Nation Airline, one of the eight domestic airlines, has voluntarily grounded its flight operations due to lack of flight crew and maintenance of its aircraft.
BusinessDay’s finding shows that one of the reasons it grounded operations was due to insufficient aircraft to operate with, and there was only A319 aircraft left after one had gone for maintenance.
Reacting to the development, Chimara Imediegwu, director, Flight Operations, confirmed the development, but stated that the airline was not grounded by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“The airline was not grounded but that the airline was re- programming its schedule. Our two aircraft are due for maintenance so instead of waiting for NCAA to ground us, we have decided to suspend our operations and send our crew for simulation training because the training was due. The airline would be back in March 28,” Imediegwu said.
The director of flight operations said because of the volume of passengers, some other airlines had also cut down their flights.
It would be recalled that the airline before now had three airplanes in its fleet; Airbus 319, but reduced to two in 2015, when one of the aircraft went for maintenance abroad.
The second A319 aircraft with registration number 5N-FND is parked at the tarmac of Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, and has also been grounded since December 2016, due to engine problem.
A source close to the airline said for the aircraft to fly again it would cost the airlines millions of dollars and that with the current recession in the country, the airline might not be able to afford it for now.
The source added that the only aircraft left for the airline, which it has been using since December developed technical issue on Sunday and this, the source pointed out made the airline to ground its own operations before NCAA pounce on it.
Sam Adurogboye, general manager, public relations, NCAA, confirmed the development, adding that the airline grounded its own operations due to lack of flight crew.
According to Adurogboye, “FirstNation grounded its own operations because the airline don’t have flight crew that are current at the moment.”
