Nigeria’s Azman Air resumes flight operations

Azman Air (AZM, Kano) has announced it will resume flight operations from May 16, 2021, with daily rotations to four city pairs, ramping up its schedule to three more destinations a week later. The airline, grounded on safety reasons in March, was given the all-clear by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on May 1 after passing a safety audit. According to its social media posts, it will restart operations with daily return flights between Lagos and Abuja; Kano and Lagos; Kano and Abuja; and Abuja and Maiduguri. On May 23, it will add rotations between Lagos and Kaduna Int’l; Abuja and Birmin Kebbi; and Abuja and Gombe. The airline said tickets unused during its grounding would be changed at no cost.n As previously reported, the NCAA audit had highlighted unsettled debt of NGN1.545 billion naira (USD3.782 million) as of December 2020, and incompetent maintenance and flight managers, who have since been replaced. The airline in February had experienced a burst tyre on landing at Lagos, resulting in the suspension of its fleet of two B737-300s and four B737-500s by the NCAA.