The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has granted West and Central Africa largest carrier, Arik Air Third Country Operator (TCO) authorisation, which allows it to operate to any European country.
TCO authorization is a requirement for all non-European Union registered commercial operators that fly to EU countries under the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and an airline is given the authorization after meeting a stringent safety and security standards.
The TCO is obtained from EASA after the agency has scrutinized the airline’s manuals and after the airline has scaled its regulations, which may include an interview.
Only very few airlines have the authorization in Africa and Arik Air is the only airline that has TCO in West Africa, which enables it to operate to any part of Europe, according to the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) the airline has with individual countries.
According to the Deputy Managing Director of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, Arik can fly to all European member states with respect to BASA agreement with each country.
“This is a great achievement for Arik Air because it is a confirmation of the airline’s high operational standard and safety by such a renowned agency. With the TCO authorization, Arik can overfly to any EU member state. Arik is the only airline in West and Central Africa that has the authorization and it took the airline short time to attain this. I am aware that it took some major airlines a very long time to obtain this authorization. Some of them made use of consultant firms to enable them pass the rigid examinations before they were given the authorization,” Captain Sanusi said.
Arik management said the EASA TCO authorization further confirms the high standard of the airline’s operations.
