Sequel to a safety audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the Ugandan Aviation Industry in June, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in Uganda withdrew Air Operator’s Certificates (AOCs) for three airlines registered in Uganda due to safety concerns.
The three affected airlines were: Uganda Air Cargo, Air Uganda and Transafrik International. The CAA’s argument was that the airlines had safety concerns and had to satisfy certain safety benchmarks before they could be allowed to resume operations.
Surprisingly, five other holders of the Ugandan AOCs have also been barred by the CAA. The additional airlines include: Ndege Aviation, Air Surf, Asante Aviation, Kampala Aeroclub & Flight Training Centre. Uganda is losing the reputation hitherto accorded to its airline industry as a result of these events.
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There has been a series of correspondence between the CAA and the affected airlines. For instance, Tim Cooper, the Ndege Accountable Manager protested the revoking of the license of his airline. “Your actions and demands are outside of any regulatory framework that we can find within the Civil Aviation Regulations and we are concerned that further capricious demands may be made of us by the CAA at any time in the future, he said.
“Our inexcusable conclusion can only be that your own processes in the issuance of our AOC were found wanting and that you expect Ndege now to pay the price of your incompetence.”
Information on the ICAO website suggests that the audited areas were legislation, organization, licensing, operations, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation services and aerodromes. 60 percent is the threshold for acceptability as any score below 60 percent is unacceptable and scores from 60 percent and above are consistent with best practice.
Unfortunately, Uganda happened to score below 60 percent on all eight areas, hence the negative results and subsequent revoking of licenses. (VENTURES AFRICA)
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