Hajj: Aviation ministry, NAHCON at logger head over airlifting pilgrims

The Federal Ministry of Aviation has kicked against the attempt to prevent the Skypower Express Airways as a charter operator for the ongoing hajj exercise to Saudi Arabia by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

The ministry insists that Skypower Express as a Nigerian carrier has met all the necessary provisions, rules and regulations of the country and deserves to be allowed to benefit from charters, ad hoc flights, just like Flynas, a charter operator from Saudi Arabia and any other interested charter operator around the world.

Correspondences from the aviation ministry obtained by our correspondent over the weekend, queried the statutory powers of NAHCON to stop a charter operator like Skypower from the annual exercise to the holy land.

One of the letters, dated August 9, 2019 and signed by Legal Adviser/ Aviation, S.S. Liman for the permanent secretary and assigned to the chairman of NAHCON, insisted that the commission lacks the power to unilaterally exclude a carrier from the hajj exercise without liaising with appropriate government authorities before coordinating hajj and umrah activities.

The correspondence declared that NAHCON did not liaise with the ministry on its circulars banning airlines on charter operations during hajj.

It insisted that all issues of civil aviation in Nigeria are superintendent by the ministry as the aeronautical authority of Nigeria, noting that the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) agreed by the ministry between Nigeria and the Saudi Arabia was misrepresented in the commission’s letter.

Liman in the letter insisted that charter services were not discriminated by the BASA entered into by the two countries, but instead, it subjected the same to the approval of the contracting parties’ aeronautical authorities.

The letter added: “The decision whether or not Skypower Express or nay airline operators/companies of Nigeria should or can operate charter flight to Saudi is not for the commission to take as it is clearly beyond its mandate.

“Section 4 (i) (b) of the commission’s Act is referred to. That decision can only be made by the aeronautical authority of Nigeria (the Federal Ministry of Transportation).”

Earlier, NAHCON in a letter dated August 2, 2019 with the reference number NAHCON/A1/18/III/341 had arrogated to the commission the powers to determine who participates in the activities of hajj operation in all its ramifications, citing Section 4 (a) of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (establishment) Act 2006 as its authority.

In another letter dated July 30, 2019 from the Federal Ministry of Transportation with the reference number: FMA/ATMD/0186/S.5/XIII/257 and signed by Director, Air Transport Management on behalf of permanent secretary, H. Musa, complained about the exemption of Skypower Express from operating as a charter operator during the exercise.

The letter had complained about the directive of NAHCON for pilgrims to patronise only scheduled carriers or the three carriers approved by NAHCON.

The three carriers according to the letter were Max Air, Med-View and Flynas.

The letter however, referred to the subsisting BASA between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, which confirmed that airlines from both countries were allowed to enjoy charter operations whenever the need arises in accordance with the BASA arrangement.

The letter insisted that Skypower Express as one of the airlines from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia has the right to benefit from the provisions of the BASA rights, including charter operations, saying that same right was being enjoyed by Max Air, MED-View and Flynas.