Section 117 Civil Aviation Act 2022

Section 117 of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 is about Interpretation. It is under Part XVII (Miscellaneous Provisions) of the Act.

(1) In this Act —
“aerodrome” means a defined area on land or water including any buildings, installations, and equipment intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft ;

“aircraft” means any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from reactions of the air other than reactions of the air against the earth’s surface ;
“air navigation services” includes information, direction and other facilities furnished, issued or provided in connection with the navigation or movement of aircraft and the control of movement of vehicles in any part of an aerodrome used for the movement of aircraft ;
“airfare” means the price of an airline ticket excluding statutory fees and taxes ;

“airport” has the same meaning as aerodrome ;
“allied aviation business” includes aircraft equipment sale or leasing operations, in-flight catering services, ground handling operations and other businesses connected with or ancillary to civil aviation ;
“Authority” means the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority established by section 4 (1) of this Act ;

“BCN weapon” means —
(a) “biological weapons” which are —
(i) microbial or other biological agents, toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes,
(ii) weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict,

(b) “chemical weapons”, which are, together or separately toxic chemicals and their precursors, except where intended for —
(i) industrial, agricultural, research, medical, pharmaceutical or other peaceful purposes,
(ii) protective purposes, namely those purposes directly related to protection against toxic chemicals and to protection against chemical weapons,
(iii) military purposes not connected with the use of chemical weapons and not dependent on the use of toxic properties of chemicals as a method of warfare, or

(iv) law enforcement including domestic and control purposes, as long as the types and quantities are consistent with such purposes ;

(c) munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of those toxic chemicals specified in paragraph (a) (i), which would be released as a result of the
employment of such munitions and devices ;

(d) any equipment specifically designed for use directly in connection with the employment of munitions and devices specified in paragraph
(a) (ii) ; and
(e) nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices ;
“cargo” means any property carried on an aircraft other than mail stores and accompanied or mishandled baggage ;
“Chicago Convention” means the Convention on International Civil Aviation concluded at Chicago on the 7th December 1944, any Annex which relates to international standards and recommended practices and
is adopted in accordance with the Convention and any amendment of the Convention or of such Annex which is made in accordance with the Convention ;

“civil aviation operations” includes ground handling operations, air operations, aerodrome operations, meteorological services, air traffic control and provision of navigational aids, catering and allied services ;
“Constitution” means the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ;

“Director-General” means the Director-General of the Authority ;
“foreign aircraft” means an aircraft other than a Nigerian registered aircraft ;

“ICAO” means International Civil Aviation Organisation established under the Chicago Convention ;
“in-flight” for the purpose of this Act, an aircraft is said to be in-flight at any time from the moment when all its external doors are closed following embarkation until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation and in the case of forced landing, the flight shall be deemed to continue until the competent authorities take over the responsibility for the aircraft and for the persons and property on board ;

“in-service” for the purpose of this Act, an aircraft is said to be inservice from the beginning of the preflight preparation of the aircraft by ground personnel or by the crew or for the crew for a specific flight until
twenty-four hours after any landing; the period of service shall, in any event, extend for the entire period during which the aircraft is in flight ;

“licence” includes air transport licence, air operators permit , air travelers organisers licence, air operators certificate, certificates of airworthiness, certificate of registration, personnel licences and ratings,
aerodrome licence, aviation training organisations approvals or certificates, aircraft maintenance organisation approvals or certificates and all other authorisations and approvals issued under this Act ;
“mail” means dispatches of correspondence and other items tendered by and intended for delivery to postal services in accordance with the rules of the Universal Postal Union and includes electronic mail ;

“member” means a member of the Governing Board of the Authority and includes the Chairman ;
“Minister” means the Minister of the Government of the Federation responsible for Civil Aviation ;
“Nigerian aircraft” means an aircraft registered in Nigeria under regulations made under this Act ;
“person” when used in this Act includes a natural person, a juristic person, an inflight security officer or an air marshal deployed on a flight under a bilateral or multilateral treaty or agreement ;

“precursors” means any chemical reactant which takes part at any stage in the production by whatever method of a toxic chemical and this includes any key component of a binary or multi component chemical system ;
“premises” includes lands, plants, and ancillary works ;
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act ;

“Regulations” in this Act is a reference to all subsidiary legislations made under this Act, and includes orders, circulars, directives or any such other instrument as the Authority may issue ; and
“reward” in relation to a flight, includes any form of consideration received or required to be received wholly or partly in connection with the flight irrespective of the person by whom or to whom the consideration has been or is to be given.

(2) Every other term shall have the same meaning as contained in the Chicago Convention and the Annexes to the Convention.