The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has completed “a thorough technical audit” of Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest airline.

According to the authority, the audit revealed that all the operational aircraft in the fleet of the airline are “airworthy.”

The General Manager, Public Relations of the NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said the audit was not limited to the recent hard landing incident involving the airline.

Recall that on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, at about 10:28am, an Air Peace B737-300 aircraft with Registration Marks 5N-BQO had an incident on landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos where the aircraft lost its tyres and nose wheel on landing.

According to the NCAA, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) “is currently carrying out an in-depth investigation into the incident to determine the immediate and remote causes responsible for this particular incident as required by International Standards stipulated in International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13.”

Adurogboye said the Authority awaits the conclusion and report of the AIB.

But in the meantime, he said the audit was conducted with a view to ensuring the airline is in compliance with extant Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs), and to mitigate the recurrence of the incident.

The statement said: “This technical audit was not limited to this recent incident. The airline operational, technical and safety performance in the last twelve months were also scrutinised.

“It revealed that all the operational aircraft on the fleet of Air Peace Limited are airworthy.”

The authority assured members of the public that “all the aircraft on the fleet of NCAA authorised Air Operators Certificate (AOC) holders operating in Nigeria are airworthy.”

NCAA said it would continue to ensure only airworthy aircraft are permitted to operate.