By: Kemo Kanyi
Nfansu Bojang, the Director General of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, has clarified the involvement of an aircraft registered in The Gambia, which was used to fly the former president of Syria from Dubai to Russia.
Reports had it that the former president of Syria, Basir al-Assad, flew to Russia via Abu Dhabi, al-Batin Airport using a Gambia registered aircraft, MAGIC Air.
Speaking to GRTS, DG Bojang explained the context of aircraft registration in states. He says it is a standard practice by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that every one of the 193 contracted member states of ICAO is required to have a state aircraft registry–every individual state uses to register, to log the registration and deregistration of aircraft in their country.
“The State of registry and the home of operation of an aircraft are not necessarily required to be the same. As common practice will show, the home of the registry of the aircraft and the home of operation most times are not the same. This is because aircraft are owned by individuals, and you can own an aircraft without owning an airline,” he explained.
He added that if one owns an aircraft as an individual, the person is at liberty to rent it out to any airline operator that has an agreement with the aircraft owner in terms of fees, adding that some individual owners do lease rental agreements.
“And it’s not a rule that once it’s registered in the Gambia can only operate from the Gambia. That’s why there has never been a finding, like a violation on the part of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority or The Gambia as a state,” he remarked.
He mentioned that the country has a Gambia Civil Aviation Act, which guides all the processes, adding that from the first republic to now, The Gambia always had a registry.
“We had Malfouche Aviation, which was registered in the Gambia, but had never operated in the Gambia. They had operations in the Middle East. During the second republic, we had ALOS, and they operated in Afghanistan. We had Badra Airline and TACO Airlines, which registered quite a few aircraft here and operated in Sudan. By that time, Sudan was under sanctions because it didn’t have the competency to register and oversight the safety of these airlines. So, they chose The Gambia. Jupiter Airlines was also registered in The Gambia but operated in South Sudan,” DG Bojang pointed out.
He said MAGIC Air was registered in the country in 2018, stating that the requirement according to the GCAA Act is that before it registers any aircraft, there must be a locally registered company. He said that’s where MAGIC Air comes from, and when it is registered, the responsibility of the State is to assure the safety oversight of the aircraft.
“In other words, we have to make sure it’s airworthy before we issue an airworthiness certificate. We have to inspect, vet, and approve the maintenance facilities. If you use it for a nefarious activity, that is not the GCAA’s responsibility. It is the owner’s responsibility,” he clarified.
