Barely 18 months after commencing the Lagos-London route, the lone Nigerian carrier on the European route, Med-View Airline has been barred from entering European airspace.
The European Union cited safety reasons for barring of the airline from entering the Europe airspace.
European Commission said that its aircraft Boeing 767 that its operate to Gatwick London is not airworthy and advised the carrier to change the aircraft or suspend flight operations to its airspace until it is able to provide another aircraft for its operations.
Apart from the airline, 180 other airlines were also barred from flying into Europe. Also, 174 other airlines were barred due to safety oversight by aviation authorities in their home countries. All carriers from Mozambique and Republic of Benin have been removed from the list of airlines banned.
Med-View was one of seven airlines barred due to safety conditions.
It would be recalled that Med-View commenced the Lagos-Gatwick route on November 20, 2015, with fanfare. The airline commenced the three weekly frequencies to London with a Boeing 767 aircraft but changed the aircraft to Boeing 747 last year when the Boeing 767 went on maintenance check abroad.
However, when the aircraft returned from checks abroad, the management deployed the aircraft to the European country again and moved the Boeing 747 for its annual hajj operations.
Besides, due to lack of passengers in recent time, the airline reduced its frequencies to two weekly and last December had issues with passengers whose luggage were left behind in London.
The carrier last year was enlisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and on Wednesday, held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) where investors expressed displeasure over the management of the airline.
Some of them expressed fear that the airline may go the way of others if the management didn’t change its style of leadership.
When our correspondent contacted the media consultant of the airline, Mr. Onyibotha Obuke, he refused to comment on the issue but promised to send a press statement to that effect.
But, a report quoted Alhaji Ishaq Na’ Allah, a Director in the airline who confirmed the UK ban of the airline.
He explained that the UK civil aviation requested the airline stop flying its B767 and has advised it to lease another aircraft.
He said they are working to resolve the issue while the UK authorities are due in Nigeria to carry out a safety audit on the airline. He did not, however, disclose when the airline would be back in service to London.
