The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had stated that the enforcement action recently initiated against five airlines is due to consumer protection concerns.
According to a statement by the Director of Consumer Protection and Public Affairs, Michael Achimugu, NCAA said contrary to reports making the rounds in some sections of the media, the sanctions initiated against the airlines were not for safety concerns.
Recall that, two weeks ago, the Authority 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.
The statement noted that furthermore, the Acting Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo 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 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 and he was not happy about it as his vision does not align with any practice that inconveniences his passengers.
He accepted the NCAA’s enforcement action and said that the airline would improve its response time to such complaints.
The statement explained that reports on some media platforms however suggested that the airlines may have been sanctioned for much more than just flight disruption issues.
“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,” the statement concluded.
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