Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo said the federal government plans to roll out measures to curb illegal charter operations by private planes across the country.
While revealing the federal government’s commitment to tackle the practice, the minister said that the reforms to be unveiled would mandate regulators to publish the names of airlines that are approved to fly, proper documentation and manifest of those on board the chartered flight.
He also said the control tower would not clear any flight for takeoff without proper identification of the crew members and passengers.
Keyamo said the federal government has lost billions of naira to the illegal charter operations, which date back 40 years.
The minister stated this at the ministerial briefing organised by the ministry of information in Abuja on Thursday.
He noted that the poor regulation of their operations was partly responsible for relevant authorities to get the identity of some passengers and crew members during crashes.
According to the minister: “The issue of the closure of GAT is a recommendation so far by the Task Force and like I said, we may not go that far but we will roll out measures to curb illegal charter or private jets and the activities they engage in and when we roll them out, please, nobody should complain.
“If you are a big man, don’t go to the airport to take a private jet if you don’t see the list of those jets that are licensed to fly and carry passengers because if anything happens to you, we will not be responsible.
“The control tower will not clear you to fly unless the pilot files a manifest of those people on that aircraft, whether you are a big man or not. We are rolling out many reforms. They will ground the aircraft until you file a flight plan with the passengers in that aircraft and their ID card because that is what is obtainable in commercial flights. They compare ID cards with your ticket presented, so why can’t we have the same in chartered flights or are the big men better than me and you? They must also bring their ID cards.”
