European Union Bans Nigerian Airline, Med-View from Entering UK Airspace

Barely 18 months after commencing the Lagos-London route, the lone Nigerian carrier on the European route, Med-View Airline has been barred from entering European airspace.

The European Union cited safety reasons for barring of the airline from entering the Europe airspace.

European Commission said that its aircraft, Boeing 767 that operates to Gatwick London is not airworthy and advised the carrier to change the aircraft or suspend flight operations to its airspace until it is able to provide another aircraft for its operations.

A statement released by the commission on Tuesday said that a total of 181 airlines have been banned from EU skies.

“Today the European Commission updated the EU air safety list, the list of non-European airlines that do not meet international safety standards, and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union,” the statement read.

“Following today’s update, all airlines certified in Benin and Mozambique are cleared from the list, following further improvements to the aviation safety situation in these countries.

“On the other hand, the airlines Med-View (Nigeria), Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Aviation Company Urga (Ukraine) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) were added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were detected by the European aviation safety agency during the assessment for a third country operator authorisation.”

Additional information available on the EU transport and mobility website explained that airlines subjected to operating ban can operate in the EU using leased aircraft of another airline.

“Airlines subjected to an operating ban could be permitted to operate within the European Union by using wet-leased aircraft of an airline which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.

“The aircraft being used in such operations could be branded as if it belonged to the fleet of the banned airline.”

It would be recalled that Med-View commenced the Lagos-Gatwick route on November 20, 2015, with fanfare. The airline commenced the three weekly frequencies to London with a Boeing 767 aircraft but changed the aircraft to Boeing 747 last year when the Boeing 767 went on maintenance check abroad.

However, when the aircraft returned from checks abroad, the management deployed the aircraft to the European country again and moved the Boeing 747 for its annual hajj operations.

Besides, due to lack of passengers in recent time, the airline reduced its frequencies to two weekly and last December had issues with passengers whose luggage were left behind in London.

The carrier last year was enlisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and on Wednesday, held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) where investors expressed displeasure over the management of the airline, and expressed fear that the airline may go the way of others if the management didn’t change its style of leadership.