The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has suspended all the wet-leased aircraft in the fleet of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA).
This follows a case of diverted flight from Abuja to Asaba, on Sunday.
An aircraft belonging to the airline had departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, enroute Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, but diverted to Asaba International Airport.
The airline had in a statement by Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, Head, Corporate Communications, attributed the diversion to poor destination weather.
Sources in the NCAA said the regulatory body took the decision to suspend the airline on Monday, and communicated same in a letter to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the airline.
The NCAA said all the wet-leased aircraft in the operations of the airline would remain suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation of the incident, involving one of the wet-leased aircraft in the fleet of the airline.
It was gathered that immediately the incident gained traction on social media on Sunday, the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Capt. Musa Nuhu called an emergency meeting of the agency, where it was resolved that the excuse given by the airline was not tenable to the authority.
It was also learnt that the report obtained from the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), contravened the claim of the airline on poor weather situation in Abuja as at the time of the diversion.
No fewer than two wet-leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft are in the fleet of United Nigeria Airlines.
A wet-lease is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to another airline or other type of business acting as a broker of air travel (the lessee), which pays by hours operated.
Also, at times, the cabin crew may be indigenous people.
United Nigeria Airlines had last month taken a delivery of a wet lease A320-200 from Bulgaria’s Fly2Sky (F6, Sofia).
