NCAA Begins Financial Audit Of Distressed Airlines

The regulatory body in aviation industry, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has begun an economic and financial audit of some domestic airlines passing through what industry stakeholders have described as financial challenges.
Reliable source from the agency, who disclosed this to aviation correspondents, Monday, said the agency embarked on the audit, to assertain the financial health of the airlines, and is currently investigating two carriers.
The aviation industry regulator had already audited Dana Airline, and the development had led to the withdrawal of the operating licence of the carrier by the agency.
According to the source, NCAA’s Director General (DG) has mandated a team to audit three domestic airlines to ascertain if they can still continue operation. Dana Air, which is one of them, turned out to be the culprit, hence the withdrawal of their license.
“We do not know whether the two remaining carriers would fail the audit too”, the top official of the NCAA said.
This development is coming  barely weeks after Aero Contractors announced the suspension of its operations.
It is unclear if the carrier is having financial crisis, but the management had complained of skyrocketing aviation fuel prices, foreign exchange crisis, among others, as their reasons.
The source also disclosed that NCAA has a standing  committee for the auditing of airlines, adding that the agency expects Dana Air to commence remedial actions to salvage the situation with its operations.

By: Corlins Walter