Concerns have been raised by United Kingdom aviation authorities with respect to Air Peace operations at London Gatwick Airport.
According to Nigerian news reports, London Gatwick Airport has filed two Mandatory Occurrence Reports (MOR). These have been placed with the UK aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The subject reports relate to alleged safety violations by the Nigerian flag carrier Air Peace in the course of its flight operations from the London airport.
What is a Mandatory Occurrence Report?
A Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) refers to a document submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) detailing a specific event that qualifies as a potential threat to aviation safety.
Here’s a breakdown of key points about MORs:
- Purpose: Improve aviation safety by identifying and addressing potential risks.
- Who Reports:
- Airline operators
- Pilots
- Other designated personnel involved in commercial aviation (e.g., maintenance)
- What’s Reported: Not all incidents necessitate an MOR. It applies to occurrences that could endanger the aircraft, occupants, or others, even if an accident wasn’t narrowly avoided.
According to a news report carried by the local Nigerian source New Telegraph, Gatwick Airport submitted an itemised list of claimed safety violations to the UK CAA. These details were in turn supplied to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Whilst specific details have not been formally confirmed by UK authorities, two reports were filed and subsequently submitted to the NCAA for review.
These were a ‘United Kingdom SAFA Ramp Inspection Report’ and a ‘NATS Management System Safety Report’.
The NCAA has subsequently formally contacted the airline, requesting that it provide information with respect to corrective action taken.
Air Peace Gatwick Route Inauguration
Air Peace has only recently commenced flight operations from Lagos, Nigeria to London. The March commencement of flight services was marred by issues with slot constraints.
This became problematic, despite the airline securing a Foreign Carrier Operator Permit back in November last year.
Oluwatoyin Olajide, chief operating officer of Air Peace made comment on the issue in February this year, prior to the inaugural service.
“Since securing its authorisation to fly into the UK, after satisfying all the requirements, the issue of slot allocation at Gatwick Airport has been the major obstacle preventing the Airline from commencing the direct flight into London”.
Criticism by Air Peace CEO
Tensions became further evident last month when the Air Peace CEO voiced criticisms of London Gatwick Airport.
CEO Allen Onyema made the following criticisms about London Gatwick Airport:
- 24 hours before the inaugural, the airline was moved to another check-in area, with featured a carousel that didn’t work.
- Flights delayed by at least 20 minutes due to the airport failing to provide ground handlers.
- With the above point, London Gatwick Airport has a 80/20 rule on slots, meaning that 80% of flights must leave on-time otherwise they get revoked.
- All incidents on the part of Gatwick will be logged by the airline and then taken further.
Onyema also believed that such incidents had been a result of retaliation by competitors due to Air Peace’s low-cost fares out of London Gatwick.
Conclusion
The recent air safety concerns raised by the London airport have now been raised to the attention of the Nigerian aviation regulator, the NCAA.
The UK CAA for its part has reportedly referred the issue to the U.K.’s Department for Transport.
Click the banner to subscribe to our weekly newsleter.
Click the photo to join our WhatsApp channel so then you can stay up to date with everything going on in the aviation industry!
