Follow Us on Google
•As Nigerians await NCAA’s report of investigation into fuel contamination incident
By Chinelo Obogo
Max Air has resumed flight operations after the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) shut down its B737 operations following a number of incidents it recorded, with the most recent being the contamination of the main fuel tanks of aircraft B737-300.
In a statement, the airline said after conducting a thorough internal investigation, it was brought to their attention that their operations were impacted by adulterated fuel and as a result, they initiated an in-house audit and voluntarily suspended their operations for two days before the intervention of the NCAA.
The airline said; “Max Air is pleased to announce the resumption of domestic flight operations from Sunday July 30 2023, following a temporary suspension due to safety concerns. Safety is at the core of Max Air’s values and we take our commitment to passenger safety with the utmost seriousness.
“After conducting a thorough internal investigation, it was brought to our attention that our operations were impacted by adulterated fuel. As a result, we promptly initiated an in-house audit and, in the interest of passenger safety, voluntarily suspended our operations for two days before the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).”
NCAA recently suspended the operation of all of Max Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft type over safety breaches.
The agency through a letter issued on July 12, with reference, NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/363 and signed by the Director, Operations Training and Licensing, Captain Ibrahim Dambazau, directed the suspension of Parts A3 which deals with the aircraft authorisation and D43 with regards to the aircraft listing of the operations specifications issued to Max Air.
The NCAA said it has constituted a team of inspectors to conduct an audit of Max Air and the result of this audit, it said, must be found satisfactory by the Authority prior to considering the restoration of the privileges of the Operations Specifications the airline to further operate the aircraft type.
A few days later, the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, in a Zoom meeting with aviation correspondents, disclosed that three aviation fuel suppliers have been identified in the course of its investigation into the incident.
He revealed that two fuel companies were recently banned from supplying fuel to aircraft in Abuja over contamination and non compliance with standards.
while insisting that it was also the responsibility of the airline and the captain in command to check the fuel before taking off from a particular airport.
“We have started investigations and we have identified three aviation fuel companies that they took fuel from that day. We will mete out sanctions where necessary. We are going to hold a meeting with the regulatory commission in order to ensure compliance with standards,” he said.
However, the regulatory agency is yet to officially make any report on the outcome of its investigations into the fuel contamination incident public.
