Nigerian airlines have been barred from the United States Federal Aviation Administration Category One Status, US FAA CAT 1, International Aviation Safety Assessment Programme.
This comes due to the failure of Nigeria’s airlines to operate directly to the US for two years or vice-versa, according to Business Day.
Industrial data showed that Nigeria’s name is currently missing from the list of African countries in the FAA Flight Standard Service International Aviation Safety Assessment, IASA.
However, while Nigeria is exempted, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Morocco, and South Africa are the African countries on the FAA Category One list. The countries on the category one list are certified to have met International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.
Recall that a new law by the United States apex aviation regulatory body, the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA recently stated that nations whose carriers fail to operate to the United States under the ‘Open Skies’ agreement between it and the US for at least two years will have its entire sector and airlines designated to America undergo recertification.
Accordingly, the new rule which took effect a few months ago has technically delisted Nigeria from the category one aviation status.
The implication is that no designated airline from Nigeria can operate in the US at the moment except through a third country.
Specifically, Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines designated to Washington and Houston, Texas may see their plans to launch flights to the two cities hampered at least until they are certified including the country’s entire aviation processes.
Consequently, pending the recertification, Nigerian carriers will not be eligible to operate in the US.
The recertification involves a process that includes scrutiny of airport security, airport facilitation, airline audit and the type of aircraft to be used for the operations to the US by the designated airline or airlines.
