The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on May 5th, 2020, issued a post-COVID-19 restart advisory circular,containing protocol for the scheduled carrier, following the announcement by the Federal Government of a gradual phasing and controlled easing of the country’s lockdown from May 4th, 2020.
The circular, with number NCAA-AC-FSG-001, mandates all AOC Holders to review, demonstrate and/or submit evidence of compliance with the provisions of Advisory Circular and its associated appendices before resumption of flight operations. This is required in order to resume an organized, safe, secure and efficient restart of flight operations operation once the nation’s airspace is reopened for business.
The guidance is broken into immediate actions, short, medium and long-term plans by the NCAA. However, only the immediate-term plans are required for the resumption of operations. The immediate, short, medium and long-term plans are organised to address key functional areas which are critical and dependent on the airlines and the Authority.
In the restart protocol, the authority states that it would grant approval to applicants who notify the Authority of their intention to resume operations upon satisfactory assessment of thePost Covid-19 restart plan assessment. The Airlines will be required to show evidence of compliance with actions listed under the immediate action plans required by the NCAA.
This is to provide assurance of safe operations both from the technical perspective of flight operations i.e. to address issues like aircraft disinfection, aircraft de-preservation, flight crew recurrency or proficiency, and from the perspective of putting measures in place to protect passengers from COVID-19 infection.
Airlines will also be required to comply with the COVID-19 Public Health Corridor Concept Protocol.