Illegal Firm Carries out Ground Handling Operations at Lagos Airport

An unregistered ground handling company, Menzies Aviation yesterday carried out ground handling operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos without regulatory approval.

Investigation by our correspondent indicated that the ground handling company was still undergoing certification processes with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), before it carried out the alleged illegal ground handling operations.

An NCAA source said the ground handling agent  handled Air Cote d’Ivoire at Lagos Airport.

The flight departed from Abidjan.

Investigations revealed that the ground handling company has its headquarters in Dublin, Scotland, but has its base in Accra, Ghana.

In a swift reaction, spokesman of NCAA, Sam Adurogboye,  in a telephone interview  confirmed the development, .

He said the NCAA has commenced investigations on the issue.

The unregistered company used the license of Precision Aviation Handling Company Ltd (PAHCOL), which was issued certification by the regulatory body some few years ago, but could not commence operations due to lack of equipment.

Besides, it was gathered that Menzies Aviation used the ground handling equipment of Arik Air to carry out ground handling operations on the West African carrier. Arik Air is not licensed to do ground handling for another airline, but has the right to handle some of its operations.

The source said: “The handling company came in without an operating license and they rendered handling services to Air Cote d’Ivoire today (Tuesday). It indicates that our airports are porous to the extent that an unregistered ground handling company will operate in our airport. They borrowed Arik Air equipment to commence handling meanwhile Arik Air is not a ground handling company. How did their staff get to the ramp?

“The company used PACHOL license, which NCAA has already told them that it is not transferable. NCAA actually told them to do the proper thing that if they want to come into Nigeria, they should go and register while the agency carries out security checks on them. They know that if they use PACHOL name to operate, the company cannot attract foreign and big airlines. So, they claimed to be Menzies to clients in order to attract airlines.

“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) did not give them apron pass; they now went to use Arik equipment to get to the apron area to commence operations. They are using PACHOL licence and Arik equipment to deceive clients and FAAN.”

A security source said such act was a breach of security standards and should attract severe sanctions from the regulatory agency.

The security source said before any company could carry out operations at the airport, it ought to go through security checks, which he said the company had violated with commencement of operations without due approval.

Adurogboye said the regulatory agency was investigating the issue and confirmed that the agency had been reported to the management.

He said: “The matter has been reported to us. I have been able to confirm that and NCAA is looking at all angles on the matter. We will look at the aspect of registration. Do they have the appropriate clearance to do what they did?

“We know they applied to NCAA for ground handling business, but what we are looking at is whether they were certified to start operating. We are investigating their operations.”