TheCable

The European Commission has banned the aircraft of Medview Airlines from operating in its airspace.

But the airline says it has since been operating with a wet-leased aircraft.

Isiaq Na’Allah, executive director, business development and commercial, told NAN on Thursday that the ban fell under an exception rule in EASA, Annex A, where it states that “Air carriers listed in Annex A could be permitted to exercise traffic rights by using wet-leased aircraft of an air carrier, which is not subject to an operating ban”.

Na’Allah said that there was no basis for alarm as its Lagos-London flight through the leased aircraft remained unaffected.

“We at Medview Airline are committed to safety, and currently working with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to restore normalcy,” he said.

“The airline has secured a B777 aircraft leased from an EU-member state to boost its international operations, which will soon join the fleet.”

Medview began flying the Lagos-Garwick route on November 20, 2015, with a Boeing 767 aircraft which operated four times a week.

A statement released by the European Commission had said that a total of 181 airlines have been banned from EU skies.

“Today the European Commission updated the EU air safety list, the list of non-European airlines that do not meet international safety standards, and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union,” the statement read.

“Following today’s update, all airlines certified in Benin and Mozambique are cleared from the list, following further improvements to the aviation safety situation in these countries.

“On the other hand, the airlines Med-View (Nigeria), Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Aviation Company Urga (Ukraine) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) were added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were detected by the European aviation safety agency during the assessment for a third country operator authorisation.”

Additional information available on the EU transport and mobility website explained that airlines subjected to operating ban can operate in the EU using leased aircraft of another airline.

“Airlines subjected to an operating ban could be permitted to operate within the European Union by using wet-leased aircraft of an airline which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.

“The aircraft being used in such operations could be branded as if it belonged to the fleet of the banned airline.”