UPDATE | Another airline, First Nation, suspends operations

Another domestic carrier, First Nation Airlines, has suspended its operations, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has confirmed.

This is coming in less than 24 hours after Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s second largest commercial carrier, announced an indefinite suspension of its operation and asked its staff to go home with effect from Thursday, September 1, 2016. 

But this time it is due to "maintenance", NCAA does not want any airline to use the economic issue as an excuse not to maintain their aircraft.

The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, explained that the decision was taken in order to ensure that the airline carried out the required maintenance of its aircraft.

In a statement issued by the NCAA on Thursday and signed by its DG, it said, “The First Nation Airlines on its part is in the middle of an Engine Replacement Programme for one of its aircrafts. Another aircraft is due for mandatory maintenance as allowed by the regulatory authority.

“In these circumstances, these airlines clearly cannot continue to undertake schedule operations, hence the inevitable recourse to self regulatory suspension.”