Ikeja – The FirstNation Airline on Tuesday announced that it would commence its Lagos-Abuja- Lagos operation on Wednesday.
The commencement of flight followed the receipt of its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
In a statement, the airline’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Pelu Awofesan, said the airline would extend its operations to Port Harcourt and Kano as from Dec. 1.
Awofesan added that the airline would operate a fleet of modern Airbus A320 passenger aircraft.
According to the statement, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, commended the management of FirstNation for its dedication and courage throughout the certification process.
It quoted Demuren as saying that the airline was among the first new airlines to pass through the NCAA’s certification after Nigeria attained the United States of America Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Category 1 status.
“The Civil Aviation Regulatory Regime in Nigeria has progressively improved over time and is now acknowledged as one of the most demanding AOC application processes internationally.
“It is, therefore, challenging for any airline without a strong capital base, competence, technical knowledge and management depth to complete the certification process under the current Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig CARs),’’ he was quoted as saying.
He added that the authority had embarked on a thorough re-certification of all airlines holding Nigeria’s AOC; while already established airlines would transit to the new process over time.
FirstNation applied for the AOC on April 5, 2010, and the processing took about 18 months, including extensive flight proofing across Europe and Nigeria.
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