Azman Air has denied accusing the Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, of unprofessionalism and extortion.
Reacting to a protest letter reportedly issued by the airline after its operations were suspended, the Accounts Manager of Azman, Muhammad Abdulmunaf, stated on Sunday that the letter didn’t emanate from them.
He described it as deliberate falsehood targeted at discrediting the DG and the airline.
The NCAA had last week announced the suspension of Azman Air’s operations, citing safety concerns, after the airline suffered three serious incidents in six weeks.
Following the announcement, a protest letter, reportedly emanating from the airline, accused the NCAA DG of unprofessionalism and being too hasty in taking the decision.
“We wish to state categorically that the recent publication in the media, in which an attack purported to be masterminded by Azman Air in reaction to NCAA’s suspension of its operations was launched on the integrity of the NCAA DG, never came from Azman Air.
“We had our request for expatriate pilots turned down, but this has nothing to do with the integrity of the DG as a person, as other airlines were so treated; hence we have decided to conduct an internal investigation to find out the source of the letter,” Abdulmunaf said.
He explained that the airline’s failure to pay for an advert featuring Azman Air in an ICAO magazine wasn’t a sign of refusal to pay but an oversight.
“How could we have alleged any wrongdoing against the DG for carrying out his duties? It is within his core mandate to take the decision he took suspending the operations of our 737s and we are not unaware of the very high premium the agency under him places on safety.
“We are leaving no stone unturned in our resolve to fish out the authors of this falsehood calculated to damage our rating. We wish to state that Azman Air is willing to cooperate fully with its investigations of our operations, as safety is our watchword,” Abdulmunaf added.
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