As from January 2024, airlines that delay passengers or whose actions result in flight cancellations will be required to provide affected passengers with a 25 per cent rebate on their subsequent flight with the airline, according to the acting Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Chris Najomo.
This was revealed by Najomo at a meeting with a group of aviation stakeholders in his office in Lagos.
Naija News reports that the DG stressed that the NCAA will make a variety of decisions that would benefit the aviation business in terms of consumer protection and airport certification.
Among other things, he pledged to implement new regulations regarding how state governments would hand over aerodromes to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
As passengers continue to criticize the attitudes of many airlines and the complete lack of consumer protection, he stated that the decision had been relayed to the carriers, emphasizing that the action would bring efficiency to the aviation sector.
He however cleared that some of the issues that cause aircraft delays or cancellations are caused by reasons outside the airlines’ control.
The DG further disclosed that the aviation regulatory authority was doing much internally to decrease the threat that had taken the joy out of flying.
Najomo said, “The airlines are biting more than they can chew. Lack of planning is causing some of the delays we are experiencing. Some airlines for instance have less than four aircraft and they want to fly all the routes. That is not possible because four aircraft capacity cannot sustain the type of operations you are doing.
“Some of the delays, and cancellations by Air Peace are because you want to go everywhere when there may not be adequate aircraft to cover that volume of operations.”
Najomo also announced the creation of a strategy that would ensure that state governments maintain control over the state-owned airports for a minimum of five years before FAAN assumes management of them.
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He claims that only roughly six of the 32 airports in the nation—Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja, Port-Harcourt International Airport, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, and Owerri Airport—are operational.
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