MaxAir (Nigeria) (VM, Katsina) suspended its flight operations for three months starting at midnight on January 31, 2025, to allow the company to review its internal processes while the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) conducts a safety and economic audit of the airline.
The NCAA announced this followed an incident involving MaxAir's only B737-400, 5N-MBD (msn 28704), on landing at Kano on January 28. The aircraft experienced a nose wheel landing gear collapse and a rear tyre burst during the landing.
In a statement, Michael Achimugu, the NCAA's director for consumer protection and public affairs, said the regulator would conduct a thorough safety and economic audit of the airline, adding: "The safety audit will entail a re-inspection of MaxAir's organisation, procedures, personnel, and aircraft as specified by Part 1.3.3.3(b) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, while the economic audit will critically examine the financial health of the airline to guarantee its capability to sustain safe flight operations."
He said the resumption of domestic flights would depend on the satisfactory outcome of the audit.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has initiated a probe into the incident and will be supported in this by the NCAA. "It must be stated that the specific cause(s) of this incident can only be established after the NSIB has conducted its investigation," Achimugu said.
He added that the NCAA had commenced organisational risk profiles for each scheduled operator, including MaxAir, which are nearing completion.
It is not the first time the authority has scrutinised MaxAir's operations or that 5N-MBD has been involved in safety incidents. In July 2023, the NCAA suspended all of the airline's B737 operations following four incidents.
On May 7, 2023, 5N-MBD lost one main landing gear during a flight between Yola and Abuja. On July 11, 2023, the same aircraft had an aborted take-off in Kano due to high exhaust gas temperature. On July 7, 2023, fuel contamination caused the auxiliary power unit of a B737-300 5N-MHM (msn 28330) to shut down at Yola. On July 11, 2023, the same aircraft had to return to Abuja due to an overheating duct warning. ch-aviation data records 11 incidents and accidents involving MaxAir aircraft, including three serious incidents: the May 2023 one, as well as one in 2019 and one in 2021.
Apart from the single B737-400, the only other active aircraft in MaxAir's fleet are one Learjet 45XR and one Legacy 600. The inactive fleet comprises five B737-300s and three B747-400s, according to ch-aviation fleets data. It operates seven routes, all of them domestic.
ch-aviation has contacted MaxAir for comment.
