Air safety: EU bars Medview Airlines, other from flying into Europe

The European Union has barred Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Medview, from operating into European airspace for safety reasons. Several other airlines were also barred.

A total of 181 airlines were barred from flying into Europe. 174 airlines were barred due to safety oversight by aviation authorities in their home countries.

All carriers from Mozambique and Republic of Benin have been removed from the list of airlines banned.

Medview was one of seven airlines barred due to safety conditions with the airlines themselves.

The airline in an official statement concerning the ban issued by the Director business development Alhaji Ishaq Na’ Allah said the UK civil aviation requested the airline stop flying its B767 and has advised it to lease another aircraft.

According to Na Allah, the European Union operational restriction, which the public has misunderstood as a total ban on its UK operations.

The airline said its operations to London is in no way affected by the ban and had since being operating with her wet-leased aircraft. The ban which falls under exception rule in EASA, Annex A, where it states that “Air carrier 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”.

The Airline regretted the anxiety the misinformation may have caused its teeming passengers and assured them that there is no basis for alarm as the Lagos-London flight remains unaffected.

“We at Med-View Airline are committed to safety, and currently working with EASA and NCAA to restore normalcy, the statement said.

The Airline on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 operated its normal schedule flight to London amidst the misinformation about the restriction.

It will be recalled that in March 2016, Med-View Airline passed through one of the most stringent operations audit of the global airlines’ body – the International Air Transport Association (IATA), after which it was issued with IOSA – International Operational Safety Audit.

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