Sure I will get bashed for saying it, but who cares, here it goes....Reg of the aircraft is not really the issue, the holder of the AOC has a little more to do with it. So the bickering of 5N aircraft is a little stupid.
Case in point....we will keep Nigeria, the rest of Africa, the EU and the US out of it for this case study.
Some airlines in the MidEast have aircraft with reg's all over the world....just look at some of the reg's on Saudi's aircraft.....Saudi is allowed to fly to many destinations world wide.....again, not the reg, the AOC.....
Is Arik allowed to fly aircraft on their AOC to the US, don't know for sure, but highly doubt it....if they can't, will they be able in the future, who the hell knows, I would be playing the powerball tomorrow if I could predict that....
Point is, 5N reg means nothing, it's got to do with the AOC..