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Tag: Azman Air

  • Deputy Senate President hails Azman varsity founder, says revival of education requires contributions of all

    Deputy Senate President hails Azman varsity founder, says revival of education requires contributions of all

    Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I Jibrin, has hailed the founder of Azman University, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina for contributing his quota to the development of education in the country.

    Senator Barau stated this while hosting the management of the University led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Fatima Batul Mukhtar at the National Assembly, Abuja.

    The Deputy President of the Senate, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, said the establishment of the university would assist in enhancing tertiary institutions’ access to the teeming youth in the country.

    Describing human capital as the cornerstone of development, he said the government would continue to encourage private individuals to invest in the education sector of the country to address challenges facing the sector.

    ” I commend the founder of Azman University for establishing the institution to contribute towards enhancing access to tertiary education in the country. To address the challenges facing our education sector, we need the private sector to come in. Government alone cannot do it.

    “As you can see, the world is changing, and the courses have to also change. We need courses that are innovation-based to support our younger ones in acquiring modern education. I am not surprised to see courses like Aviation and Artificial Intelligence and the rest being offered by the university. We will stand by you because anybody who is interested in supporting the nation’s education deserves to be encouraged and supported,’’ he said.

    Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Fatima Batul Mukhtar, commended Senator Barau for his immense support to the education sector of the country.

    “I remember when I was the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Dutse, you supported us with nine new block projects, and all of them were completely built. I really appreciate your efforts in supporting education. This is how our leaders should be,’’ she said.

     

    Media Office of the Deputy President of the Senate

    November 15/2023

  • NCAA suspends Azman Air over Ticket Sales Charge

    NCAA suspends Azman Air over Ticket Sales Charge

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has suspended the Air Transport Licence (ATL) of Azman Air for failure to remit N1.2 billion Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) from passengers.

    The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, made this known in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday.

    Nuhu explained that the airline was suspended for failure to also submit security clearance for the renewal of its ATL, which expired in April 2021.

    Nuhu said the N1.2 billion debt was the revenue accrued from the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo sales Charge (CSC) collected from the air travelers by the airline.

    The TSC/CSC is shared among five aviation agencies; NCAA and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

    Others are the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

    NCAA gets 58 per cent from the total 5 per cent of TSC/CSC and it is the major revenue earning for the agency, while the other four agencies share the remaining 42 per cent.

    Nuhu decried that the regulatory agency had made efforts to recover the debt from the airline over the years, but ”the carrier was recalcitrant in paying back the sum despite collecting it from the passengers.”

    Azman commenced scheduled operations in 2014.

    However, the withdrawal of the airline’s ATL rendered its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) invalid.

    Nuhu told aviation journalists that its management had held series of meetings with Azman Air leadership on how to pay back the debt, but both parties failed to reach an agreement.

    He said that the airline’s management had promised to pay back the sum of N10 million monthly as part of the N1.2 billion debt, but said the regulatory body insisted on N50million monthly.

    Besides, the D-G said that the airline could not provide its security clearance, which was one of the prerequisites for renewal of ATL.

    He said: “We didn’t suspend Azman Air’s Airline Operator certificate, but suspended their ATL, which had earlier expired.

    ”The ATL earlier expired in April 2021, but we gave the airline extension because of the disruption to aviation activities by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “This was what we did for other airlines, too. However, we wrote a reminder letter to the airline six months to the new expiring date, which is statutory.

    “Later, the airline requested for another extension of 90 days, but we only granted it 60 days.

    ”At the expiration of the 60 days, we also gave it 30 days reminder, which elapsed on Wednesday night, yet nothing was done by the airline.”

    Nuhu said that the airline owed us N1.2 billion as TSC/CSC, adding, ”we invited them and set up a committee for that purpose.

    ”Azman said they would pay the sum of N10 million monthly out of the debt, which we refused.

    “They later came up to N20 million, but we insisted on N50 million monthly.

    ”If we had agreed to the N10 million monthly, it means it will take them about 12 years to repay back the money it had already collected and by then, the money would have lost.”

    Nuhu further threatened that the ATL or AOC of any other airline that owed the agency’s five per cent TSC/CSC would not be renewed.

    He appealed to other carriers to pay up the backlog of debts.

  • Azman Air rejects Dangote’s son-in-law for allegedly supporting killers of Deborah

    Azman Air rejects Dangote’s son-in-law for allegedly supporting killers of Deborah

    Azman Air has rejected Jamil Abubakar, a former pilot in its crew and son-in-law of Dangote for allegedly supporting killers Deborah Yakubu.

    The airline in a public notice disowned him stating that :
    “Capt Jamil Abubakar is no longer a pilot @AzmanAir; his last flight with us was 22nd Dec 2019,” Azman Air said in a rebuttal tweet.

    Azman airline has distanced their organisation from Jamil Abubakar, a member of the Dangote family, 24 hours after he justified the killing of Deborah Samuel by islamic extremists.

    Nigerians with the impression that Mr Abubakar was an Azman Air staff launched tirades against the company for employing the services of a perceived religious bigot.

    Dissociating the airline from Mr Abubakar, Azman Air released a statement to inform Nigerians that the pilot had ceased to be their staff since 2019.

    “PUBLIC NOTICE: Capt Jamil Abubakar is no longer a pilot @AzmanAir; his last flight with us was 22nd Dec 2019,” Azman Air said in a rebuttal tweet. “We refuse to take responsibility for a comment or view of a former staff. The general public should kindly take note.”

    Ms Samuel, a 200 level Home-Economics student accused of blasphemy, had complained bitterly over the influx of religious broadcast messages shared to her department’s WhatsApp page.

    Her complaints elicited the fury of fanatic coursemates and schoolmates who stoned her to death and set her lifeless body ablaze.

  • Reps stranded at Kano airport over Azman Air’s flight delay

    Reps stranded at Kano airport over Azman Air’s flight delay

    By Emman Ovuakporie

    Members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday got a raw deal as they were left stranded at the Kano International Airport by Azman Airline for several hours.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the House members boarded Azman Airline for an official engagement with House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and waited for hours unattended to for a flight that was scheduled to take off at 12:30pm but was shifted to 2:30pm and then to 6pm and was moved to 9:45am and again moved to 12:15pm.

    As at the time of filing this report, no official of the airline was on ground to address passengers.

    Hon. Benjamin Kalu, spokesman to the House who spoke to journalists on the shoddy treatment expressed worry that airline operators especially Azman airline have resolved to treat Nigerians without respect which is against the consumer protection law of the country where if a passenger is delayed for two hours, the operators should reach out to their passengers.

    He said: “It is important the people we represent know where we are and the National Assembly knows we are still stranded here and as we speak to you nobody is at the counter to address us, not even the manager.”

    Kalu who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers expressed concern that this is what the ordinary Nigerians pass through on daily basis while travelling.

    He said “We just came out to see the manager and other members are still inside.”

    Another passenger Abdullahi Alhassan Bashir and his wife were also captured waiting endlessly without being attended to.

    Other lawmakers who identified themselves include: Hon. Rotimi Agunsoye, Hon. Henry Archibong, Hon. Gboluga Tinboju, among others

    He said “In the hall alot of Nigerians were left stranded, there are other Nigerians who are stranded and we are witnessing this firsthand and we are feeling it. Some of the citizens were abandoned here.

    “We are raising this call for common Nigerians, sometimes when citizens bring their complaint it appears as if they fabricated it.

    “But this one we are involved and we are seeing this for ourselves,” the House spokesman noted.

    “We don’t know when we are leaving here and we have shown interest to find out from the Ministry of Aviation and Consumer Protection Council what is happening to the Aviation sector as soon as we return,” Kalu declared

  • How Azman Air is toying with lives of air travellers in Nigeria

    How Azman Air is toying with lives of air travellers in Nigeria

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has narrated how Azman Air is toying with the lives of air travellers in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the narrative is contained in a statement signed and released by Sam Adurogboye, NCAA’s GM, Public Relations.

    Recall that the NCAA on March 16th, following a series of incidents, suspended the operations of all the Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Azman Air Services Limited.

    However, on Thursday, a top official of Azman Air, who declined to give his name, told PRNigeria that the airline operated within the established rules and that their aircraft are in compliance with the aviation standards.

    This prompted the NCAA to release a statement narrating what advised the suspension of Azman Air’s operations.

    Read NCAA’s statement below:

    The attention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been drawn to a press release issued by the management of Azman Air over the suspension of its flight operations by the NCAA that has gone viral in the social media.

    The NCAA would not ordinarily have bothered to respond to the publication and would rather focus on its core mandate of ensuring safe and secure air transportation in Nigeria.

    We are, however, constrained to issue this press release to keep the records straight and disabuse the minds of the public that the action the Authority took was actuated otherwise than by safety considerations.

    Over a period of about six weeks, Azman Air Boeing 737 aircraft operating scheduled passenger flights were involved in three separate incidents, resulting in damage to the aircraft in each case but with no loss of life, for which we are grateful to God.

    During a routine ramp inspection on 10th February 2021, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, NCAA inspectors found an Azman Air maintenance engineer carrying out replacement of the right-hand main landing gear wheel assembly (nos. 3 and 4) of their Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS, without referring to the manufacturer’s maintenance manual.

    This is a violation of the Civil Aviation Regulations, for which both Azman Air and the engineer have been sanctioned but are yet to pay the fine.

    On 11th February 2021, Azman Air flight AZM 2318 operated with the same Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS, departed Kaduna for Lagos.

    During take-off, a component of the aircraft was observed to have fallen off the aircraft and Air Traffic Control (ATC) notified the Captain, who elected to continue the flight to Lagos.

    Upon arrival Lagos, the Captain failed to make entry in the aircraft technical logbook.

    Azman Air maintenance team on ground Lagos were notified of the detached part and carried out an inspection, which identified the missing part as the no 3 Main Landing Gear (MLG) heatshield.

    However, the maintenance team neither made an entry in the technical logbook nor rectified the defect but released the aircraft for a scheduled passenger flight from Lagos to Abuja.

    NCAA inspectors in Abuja were notified and promptly grounded the aircraft, until the defect was rectified, before releasing the aircraft for resumption of flight operations.

    A Letter of Investigation was issued to Azman Air, and investigations are ongoing.

    Exactly five days later, on 16th of February 2021, when the previous incident was still under investigation, Azman flight AZM 2325, with the same Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS, suffered burst tyres while landing in Lagos, with resultant severe damage to the aircraft engine and fuselage.

    The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) is currently investigating this occurrence as a serious incident. On Monday 15th March 2021, Azman Air flight AZM 2318, operated with a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-YMS, departed Kaduna for Lagos.

    The Captain reported a loud bang after retracting the landing gear during take-off but decided to proceed to Lagos as all parameters were normal.

    The aircraft landed Lagos and taxied to its parking stand when ATC informed the Captain of the burst tyres as reported by the Airport Fire Service.

    NCAA Kaduna Regional Office Manager alerted the Director General (DG) of tyre debris on the runway in Kaduna when an inspection was carried out after the departure of the Azman flight.

    The DG instructed NCAA Lagos office to conduct a ramp inspection of the Azman aircraft.

    When the NCAA inspectors reached the aircraft, they discovered that two severely damaged tyres had been replaced and further inspections revealed damage to a hydraulic line with resultant hydraulic leak and damage to the hydraulic reservoir.

    The alarming trend of tyre failures, in combination with improper tyre maintenance procedures, are a clear and strong indication of an accident chain formation in its final stages.

    There was an urgent need to break the accident chain before a completely avoidable national tragedy occurs.

    No responsible Civil Aviation Authority will fold its arms and wait for the next incident to occur, perhaps a fatal accident, before taking action.

    Consequently, the Director General called for an emergency meeting of the Flight Standards Group of the NCAA, to discuss and decide on the next line of action on the worrisome developments at Azman Air.

    After deliberations, which lasted for several hours, and comprehensive evaluations of these incidents, the Director General decided to suspend Parts A3 (Aircraft Authorization) and D43 (Aircraft Listing) of the Operations Specifications (OPS SPECS) issued to Azman Air, thus suspending the operation of the entire Boeing 737 aircraft on its fleet.

    A comprehensive audit of Azman Air will be conducted in the areas of operations, airworthiness, training, licensing, financial health and any other area determined to be necessary during the exercise.

    An Audit Team of inspectors has been constituted to determine the root causes of these incidents, and recommend action plans to forestall re-occurrence.

  • JUST IN: NCAA suspends Azman Air with immediate effect

    JUST IN: NCAA suspends Azman Air with immediate effect

    Following a series of incidents involving Azman Air Boeing 737 aircraft, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the operations of all the Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Azman Air Services Limited, with effect from March 15, 2021.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General of NCAA, and made available to newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday.

    Nuhu said that the suspension was in pursuant to Section 35 (2) of the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 and Part 1.3.3.3 (A) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015.

    He said that the suspension was to enable the authority conduct an audit of the airline to determine the root cause(s) of the incidents, and recommend corrective actions to forestall reccurrence.

    According to him, “NCAA regrets the inconvenience this action may cause the public, particularly to Azman air passengers, but the need to ensure the safety of air
    transport and protect the public interest, cannot be compromised.

    “The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority will continue to ensure airlines’ compliance to its regulations in the interest of safety and will view any violation(s) seriously.

    Azman Air was established in 2010, and began operations in 2014 with its first commercial flight to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, on 15 May 2014 from Kano. The airline began operations in Nigeria with 2 Boeing 737-500 aircraft for its domestic services. In October 2017, Azman Air leased a used Airbus A330 from an Egyptian charter airline (the now defunct Air Leisure) which would be used to fly to international routes to both the Middle East and Asia. The airline has since discontinued leasing the A330, and, as of 8 February 2020, is only flying domestic routes within Nigeria.