The Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA) has confirmed that charter startup Kwati Air (Freetown) does not have an air operator's certificate (AOC) and that its air transport licence (ATL) issued in 2023 has expired.
Director-General Musayeroh Barrie told ch-aviation that Kwati Air has expressed interest in resubmitting an application for an ATL, which has not yet been received.
She was responding to an inquiry from ch-aviation after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) recently confirmed that Kwati Air had communicated plans to the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch flights between the two West African countries. This followed reports that Kwati Air founder, Wisdom Kwati, a Nigerian real estate entrepreneur, had promised to invest USD5 billion in aviation and property development in Sierra Leone.
The NCAA said it had forwarded requirements for a Foreign Carrier Operating Permit (FCOP) to Kwati Air and the SLCAA.
Kwati Air is the Sierra Leone subsidiary of Nigeria's property group Wisdom Kwati Group. It had received an air transport licence (ATL) from the SLCAA on July 15, 2023, but never progressed towards an AOC.
The SLCAA is currently processing its first AOC since 2008 for Air Sierra Leone (ASL), a subsidiary of Nigerian private airline Xejet (4U, Lagos), which aims to operate ASL as a new Sierra Leonean flag carrier.
