The Federal Government has clarified that Nigeria’s airlines have not been delisted from operating flights to the United States due to safety or security concerns. Instead, the delisting occurred because no Nigerian carrier has flown to the U.S. for over two years, as confirmed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Reports had surfaced suggesting that Nigerian airlines, including Air Peace, were barred from flying to the U.S. due to safety issues. However, the NCAA’s Acting Director General, Captain Chris Najomo, refuted these claims in a statement on Monday.
Captain Najomo explained that Nigeria achieved the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Category One status in 2010, which allows Nigerian airlines to operate flights to the U.S. using Nigerian-registered aircraft. This status was reaffirmed in subsequent assessments in 2014 and 2017. However, in September 2022, the FAA removed Nigeria from its Category One list because no Nigerian airline had operated flights to the U.S. using Nigerian-registered aircraft for the preceding two years.
Najomo emphasized that this delisting was not due to any deficiencies in Nigeria’s aviation safety or security oversight. He highlighted that Nigeria had passed comprehensive safety and security audits conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) without any significant concerns.
He also noted that Nigerian airlines could still operate flights to the U.S. using aircraft wet-leased from countries that currently hold Category One status. Additionally, he praised the efforts of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who has been working to strengthen Nigeria’s aviation sector, including initiatives to make Nigeria fully compliant with the Cape Town Convention, which would boost international confidence in the country’s aviation market.
The NCAA remains committed to maintaining high safety and security standards in Nigeria’s aviation sector and expects that Nigeria will soon regain its U.S. Category One status.
