NCAA moves to digitalise operations

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has concluded plans to digitalise its operation to enhance ease in the discharge of its oversight duties.

According to the NCAA, under the new arrangement, it will be deploying the necessary digital platforms for the processing of approvals, licenses and renewal of recertification as well as addressing passengers’ complaints.

Its Acting Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, disclosed this recently while declaring open a training programme for the consumer protection portal department of the agency.

According to Najomo, the new portal will not only make it faster and more convenient to resolve complaints by passengers in record time, but it will also serve as a barometer for assessing the performance of both local and foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

Najomo said the capacity building programme was put together to equip personnel of airlines and the regulatory body to find lasting solutions to incessant complaints lodged by passengers on either delayed or cancelled flights and other service failures in the travel space.

To drive this, he said the NCAA has to retool its responsibilities by adopting the digitalisation of most of its operations using the latest information technology applications.

He said, “We have gone far. We started this MPIC process two years ago, and right now we’ve had some training. The people have come to train our people, and they are deploying this system. This software is going to digitalise the whole system. The AOC system, certification, recertification, licensing, you will see it’s going to be awesome.”

The NCAA boss further said the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, was leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that local carriers have access to convenient aircraft acquisition by engaging major airplane manufacturers.

He said, “The minister has been doing a lot to assist in this direction by going around to talk to airplane makers and other players on how to get aircraft.

“He has been engaging Boeing, Embraer, and others on how to secure dry leasing for our local airlines. And he has done so much. Very soon, you’ll see that results will come out so that our airlines will be able to get airplanes and bring them in for use.

“It is capacity that is making what we are having, having all these delays and cancellations. And all these airlines will key into it. Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines are all doing everything possible to get dry-lease aircraft. That is the way to go.”

On when the minimum of six aircraft in the fleet policy will take off for Nigerian carriers, Najomo said the regulator was tweaking the policy to ensure its implementation aligned with the scope of operations of individual carriers.

He stated, “We are tweaking that, even though it takes effect from 2025, but we are looking at the regulation very well, whereby it will suit what operation you want to do. If you are going to go to a full-blown airline, we will look at the regulations and maybe the six aircraft that will come in. But some operators just want to do maybe Lagos-Ibadan, Lagos-Ilorin and all that.

“So, we will look at the regulation and say, okay, maybe you should stick back to the three aircraft and see how it is. We want to encourage more people to come into the industry.”