NCAA makes move to prevent flight disruptions during Yuletide
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NCAA makes move to prevent flight disruptions during Yuletide.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority said it has taken necessary measures to ensure that flight operations are not disrupted during the Yuletide.
The authority also said it was keen on ensuring that air operations are seamless even beyond Christmas into the New Year and beyond.
NCAA’s Director, Consumer Protection and Public Affairs, Michael Achimugu, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen during a Road Show and Sensitisation Summit held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Wednesday.
The event was organised by the Consumer Protection Department of NCAA with the theme ‘Repositioning the Nigerian Aviation Industry for Operational Efficiency’: Service Excellence and Economic Viability, A Renewed and Inclusive Regulatory Dialogue’.
Achimugu said this following the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo’s signing of the Cape Town Convention Practice Direction and the Directorate General of Civic Aviation that 10 more aircraft have been approved to come into the country to increase the capacity of fleets for air operations in the country.
He noted that many travellers are unaware that when their rights are violated or plans disrupted they ought to report to NCAA, stating that the sensitization was to empower air passengers to know their rights and responsibilities.
Achimugu stated, “We are now in the high travel season in the aviation sector and as you know there have been a lot of flight disruptions over the year and there have been a lot of complaints as regards that.
“Our duty at the NCAA is to sensitive to our passengers because most of the time when complaints come about these disruptions it comes from the place of poor knowledge about their rights and responsibilities as air passengers.
“Our duty in the air Consumer Protection Department of the NCAA is to protect both the passenger and the airlines as businesses. They are all our stakeholders. We cannot blame passengers for what they do not know. So we are creating mass awareness. It will continue throughout next year.”
He added, “A lot of people do not know that if they have a problem in air travel the NCAA is the place to report. The airlines owe a responsibility to the passengers to after 30 minutes provide information after two hours provide refreshments. Where the passengers’ flight has been cancelled beyond the hours of 10pm and 4am, they are entitled to accommodation.
“Contrary to what passengers think sometimes, the mere part of the disruption is not what qualifies an airline for sanctions. It is the non-compliance to what the regulations asked them to do, where a disruption has happened that qualifies for sanction.”
Achimugu assures that there will not be disruption during this period, adding that more fleets are coming into the country to increase the capacity of air operations in the country.
He stated, “There will not be disruptions this festive season, because of the Hon. Minister’s signing of the Cape Town Convention Practice Direction and My DDCA, Capt. Idera, more aircraft are coming into the country. Recently, there have been 10 new aircraft in Nigeria, spread across airlines. These have ramped up the fleets in Nigeria because we have always had capacity problems. But now, we have more planes. The disruptions are going to reduce.
“In NCAA we are recording in the history of Nigeria the issue of Case resolution. Nigeria is one of the few countries in the whole world where airlines are made to pay 100% refund without charges. Now we are achieving steadily for 2024, 65 percent case resolution. Most of the cases that have been left unresolved are cases where there are disagreements over figures between the passenger and the airline and we are mediating.
“And then there are other cases like the Dana Air situation created to pay refunds to passengers. We are working on a proper solution to that problem. There is another airline that wants to take some assets of Dana, we are working to see that they also that the liabilities of the airline so that they can either flight ticket holders of Dana or pay them their refund.”
