Med-View Airline Barred From Flying London Route

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Barely 24 hours after it held its first Annual General Meeting, the European Commission has added Nigeria’s Med-View Airline to its EU air safety list thereby banning the airline from its airspace.

A statement released by the commission on Tuesday said that a total of 181 airlines have been banned from EU skies.

“Today the European Commission updated the EU air safety list, the list of non-European airlines that do not meet international safety standards, and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union,” the statement read.

“Following today’s update, all airlines certified in Benin and Mozambique are cleared from the list, following further improvements to the aviation safety situation in these countries.

“On the other hand, the airlines Med-View (Nigeria), Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Aviation Company Urga (Ukraine) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) were added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were detected by the European aviation safety agency during the assessment for a third country operator authorisation.”

Additional information available on the EU transport and mobility website explained that airlines subjected to operating ban can operate in the EU using leased aircraft of another airline.

“Airlines subjected to an operating ban could be permitted to operate within the European Union by using wet-leased aircraft of an airline which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.

“The aircraft being used in such operations could be branded as if it belonged to the fleet of the banned airline.”

Medview Airline could not be reached to confirmed the ban as at press time.

Medview Airline began flying the Lagos-Gatwick route on November 20, 2015 with a Boeing 767 aircraft which operated four times a week.

The airline on January 31, 2017 enlisted in the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) at 9,750,649,400 units of 50kobo each at N1.50kobo per share.

At the AGM held in Lagos on recently, the Medview Airline CEO, Alhaji Muneer Bankole gave a short-term forecast for the year stating that Medview will acquire three aircraft to strengthen its international operations.

According to him, the aircraft will include a Boeing 777-200 and a 737-800 to strengthen its entry into routes like Dubai.

Bankole further told the shareholders that Medview has acquired four aircraft, owned by the shareholders and not leased.

This he said is part of the airline’s drive to secure its existence.