Moses Ofodeme
The Federal Government has levied a fine of N1m on FlairJet, a British private charter company; for violating COVID-19 airport directives in Nigeria.
FlairJet, which is also an affiliate of Flexjet; had flouted restrictions on airport regulations during the COVID-19 lockdown and was impounded by the Federal Government and the crew interrogated.
The federal government has imposed the fine of N1m on the carrier as a deterrent while the offending action of the British carrier was reported to authorities in the United Kingdom.
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, made the disclosure on Sunday via his handle on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.
“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.
‘‘We caused them to pay and reported their callous misdemeanour to UK CAA, MFA and the UK High Commission,” the minister tweeted.
Federal Government had initially authorised the British carrier to operate humanitarian flights in Nigeria but the company got into the cross-hairs of the Federal Government when it was caught operating commercial flights.
Government had earlier banned commercial flights from operating into the country as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Only passenger flights, which evacuate people or repatriate Nigerian citizens are currently allowed to operate; as all airports in Nigeria are closed to international commercial flights until at least June 4, 2020.
However, flights for essential services, such as delivery of food supplies and items for humanitarian use; are allowed to operate.