Nigeria’s growing airline, Max Air has resumed operation two weeks after it was shut down by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over safety concerns.
Max Air two Boeing 737, which it uses for domestic service were shut down following a number of incidents it recorded, with the most recent being the contamination of the main fuel tanks of one of its aircraft, B737-300.
In a statement, the airline said after conducting a thorough internal investigation, it was brought to their attention that their operations were impacted by adulterated fuel and as a result, they initiated an in-house audit and voluntarily suspended their operations for two days before the intervention of the NCAA.
The airline said; “Max Air is pleased to announce the resumption of domestic flight operations from Sunday July 30 2023, following a temporary suspension due to safety concerns. Safety is at the core of Max Air’s values and we take our commitment to passenger safety with the utmost seriousness.
“After conducting a thorough internal investigation, it was brought to our attention that our operations were impacted by adulterated fuel. As a result, we promptly initiated an in-house audit and, in the interest of passenger safety, voluntarily suspended our operations for two days before the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).”
NCAA recently suspended the operation of all of Max Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft type over safety breaches.
The agency through a letter issued on July 12, with reference, NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/363 and signed by the Director, Operations Training and Licensing, Captain Ibrahim Dambazau, directed the suspension of Parts A3 which deals with the aircraft authorisation and D43 with regards to the aircraft listing of the operations specifications issued to Max Air.
The NCAA said it has constituted a team of inspectors to conduct an audit of Max Air and the result of this audit, it said, must be found satisfactory by the Authority prior to considering the restoration of the privileges of the Operations Specifications the airline to further operate the aircraft type.
