NCAA links supply of contaminated aviation fuel to ‘unapproved marketers’ in airport

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says it will check the activities of unapproved aviation fuel marketers involved in the supply of contaminated aviation fuel, also known as Jet-A1, to unsuspecting airlines.

Musa Nuhu, director-general of NCAA, spoke during a virtual meeting with aviation correspondents in Lagos on Thursday.

On July 13, 2023, TheCable reported that the authority suspended the operations of all Boeing 737 aircraft of domestic carrier, Max Air, over several incidents of contaminated aviation fuel.

The aviation authority, as a result, said it would intensify its investigation to establish the root cause of contamination.

Giving updates at the meeting, Nuhu said in the course of the investigation, it was discovered that some unapproved aviation fuel marketers found their way into the airports, thereby supplying the commodity to unsuspecting airlines.

This, the director-general said, was discovered during a meeting with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

He said the agencies’ findings show that some fuel suppliers were operating at Nigerian airports illegally.

Nuhu said the NCAA was furnished with a list of approved aviation fuel companies by the DPR but discovered that some suppliers currently operating at the airports were not on the list.

He, however, said the authority would also inform the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) about the development with a view to stopping the illegal operators.

“Investigation is ongoing, we are doing this in collaboration with the DPR and we have got the list of all companies approved by the DPR,” the NCAA boss said.

“We found out that some were not approved, we will write FAAN about this to ensure they withdraw their services until they meet all requirements.

“Any Jet-A1 supplier must be approved because it needs a lot of standards. Although, there was a gap between the DPR and NCAA but that has been closed.

“The issue of fuel contamination is not acceptable and no international airline has reported fuel contamination but it is an alarming thing that needs to be looked into.

“We have set up a committee comprising representatives of relevant agencies to look at the entire system and make recommendations. However, it is still the responsibility of the airline pilot to check his fuel.”

Speaking on an impending audit, Nuhu said the NCAA was working round the clock to close some gaps identified at some airports, disclosing that the audit would take place from August 30 to September 11, 2023.