Monday, June 10, 2013

New airline gets operating license, urges Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to increase manpower

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been advised to increase its manpower so as to reduce the delay experienced by prospective airline operators from acquiring  Air Operator Certificate (AOC).

The Chief Executive of West Link Airlines, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia gave this advise last Friday when receiving his Air Operators Certificate (AOC) for the West Link Air, a chartered operator that is also licensed for Umra, lesser hajj. He said  the additional manpower in the regulatory authority will  help reduce time spent to acquire Air Operators Certificate (AOC) in the country.

On why the AOC took years to collect, Captain Mshelia explained that there were delays with issues associated with the processes especially with documentation and manpower.

“Sometimes we make errors in our documentation and it takes time to communicate it to the NCAA and time to communicate back so with that time is spent. What I gathered in the system is not new to any of us, manpower. When the system has enough manpower perhaps it may cut down on the time spent to acquire the AOC. The operator too is also a problem if a document is given, to be returned in a day and it takes a week, the operator is also delaying himself.”

Mshelia also said that the airline painstakingly went through  the process of registration so that the airline will  give its clientele and passengers the best of services.

“I wouldn’t say it will be different, we would definitely do thing differently because our purpose is to replicate what we see when we travel out.”

“ Our local carriers over the years have tried their best, we are not saying they are not doing well, we are saying there is room for improvement and we are that airline that will bring improvement and we are putting things in place to make sure that when we start operating you can look at your watch and know that WestLink has flown.”

On manpower training, he revealed that his aviation training school, MishAviation, in Ghana will be graduating students in the next couple of days and this is because of the passion for the industry.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA has urged the management of Westlink Airlines to have safety as its watchword.

Presenting the AOC to the Chairman of Westlink Airlines, the director of Airworthiness Standards NCAA, Engr. Benedict Adeyelika congratulated the management of the airline for waiting patiently  for the documents which processing started  2010.

Engr Adeyelika advised the airline team to ensure that the standard of safety do not fall below expectation and to maintain good safety records at all times.

According to him, the entrance of Westlink Airlines into the Nigerian aviation market has opened ways for other interested would be airline operators to apply for their AOCs.


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