The Federal Government of Nigeria has penalised a British airline company, Flair jet, for operating commercial flights into Nigeria without approval amidst lockdown.
This was announced by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Sunday via his Twitter handle, where he said the airline contravened section 1.3.3 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations 2015.
He noted that the airline’s “callous misdemeanor” has been reported to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, and other authorities.
“Flairjet were found to violate our Civil Aviation Regulations IS 1.3.3(a) Table 2(IV)7(a) and IS 1.3.3 (a) Table 2(VIII)(4). The maximum penalty for each is N500,000:00K. We caused them to pay and reported their callous misdemeanor to UK CAA, MFA and the UK High Commission,” he tweeted.
According to Sirika, “the company was given approvals for humanitarian operations but regrettably, they were caught conducting commercial flights, this callous! The craft is impounded, crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve.”
During the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force PTF on COVID-19, the Minister also announced that the crew of the aircraft had been taken to an isolation center in Lagos where they will be quarantined for 14 days.
