THE Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has penalised some domestic carriers for allegedly violating real weather minima before take-off at some airports.
Harmattan haze currently blows across the country, causing poor visibility and health hazards.
The airlines penalised to the tune of N2.5 million each are Aero Contractors, Virgin Nigeria, Chanchangi, and Arik Airlines.
Some of the affected carriers have however protested to the regulatory body, claiming that they did not violate weather minima. They argued that visibility as at the time was more than 1,200 metres, which, according to them, is acceptable with the type of equipment they operate.
The Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren who confirmed the development to The Guardian on telephone at the weekend admitted that there were complaints from the operators, which he promised would be looked into.
“They complained about the real time weather given to them. We are still looking into it,” Demuren said.
The Operations Manager of Chanchangi Airlines, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur who confirmed the involvement of his airline among others that were sanctioned from far away London frowned at the sanction, saying that they did not violate weather minima.
Tukur said that visibility stood at over 1,200 metres, which to him, was very good.
He noted that his aircraft like many other airlines had equipment to fly under the visibility range.
He argued that if the weather was not good, the air traffic controller would not have cleared them for take-off in the first place.
A meteorologist who spoke to The Guardian at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) office at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos under anonymity gave visibility range at 800 metres as at 11 a.m., adding that at 800 metres aircraft can be permitted to take off and land.
Anything below 800 metres, according to the source, could be dangerous for pilots.
Weather minima are criteria determined by airline operators that govern whether a particular aircraft under the control of a particular pilot may take off or land at a particular civil aerodrome. They include runway visual range and critical height for landing and cloud ceiling for take-off.
A variety of weather minima may be simultaneously in force at the same aerodrome.
Domestic airline operations have been witnessing disruption in their schedules as a result of harmattan haze, prompting the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to contemplate closing temporarily to traffic some airports in the North.
Poor visibility at some of the airports is more pronounced because of the absence of landing aids.
Beyond the absence of category three Instrument Landing System (ILS), some of them lack runway lightings that could aid pilots to land in poor visibility.