Contrary to reports making the rounds on the recent sanctions initiated against five airlines, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has clarified that the sanctions were for consumer protection-related infractions, and not for safety concerns.
Recall that, two weeks ago, the Director of Consumer Protection and Public Affairs at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, had issued a warning that any airline that delays the payment of refunds to passengers within the stipulated time frame in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, will be sanctioned.
A week later, the Regulatory agency announced that it had initiated enforcement action against Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airways, Air Peace, Arik Air, and Aero Contractors.
Furthermore, the Acting Director-General, NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo subsequently called an emergency stakeholder meeting to find lasting solutions to flight delays and cancellations, where he advised operators to trim their operations according to the number of aircraft they have and to treat consumer’s complaints with the desired urgency.
Reacting to the announcement, Allen Onyema, Chairman of Air Peace said that he had noticed that some of his finance staff actually delayed some of those payments which he said he was not happy about and against his vision that does not align with any practice that is.capable of inconveniencing his passengers.
While accepting the NCAA’s enforcement action, Onyema pledged that the airline would improve its response time to such complaints.
Correcting the reports on some media platforms that insinuated that the five airlines may have been sanctioned for much more than just flight disruption issues, a statement issued by Achimugu, clarified: “Even the DGCA publicly announced at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos, the names of the airlines, and the reasons for the enforcement actions. My department is strictly for consumer protection issues, not technical matters. So why would anyone think that I can sanction an airline for safety reasons?
“It is important to note that we do not sensationalise serious issues. The department protects both the operators and passengers and will continue to be an unbiased umpire”.
