NAN
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said on Wednesday that four airlines operating in the country were sanctioned last year, over alleged abuse of passengers’ rights.
The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, stated this in an interview in Ikeja.
Akinkuotu said that the authority sanctioned the airlines over alleged “unfair deals” with their passengers.
He said that the affected airlines were British Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Aero Contractors and an unnamed airline.
“On the passengers’ bill of rights, once we receive complaints, we address them and we have had to write to some of the airlines on several occasions.
“I urge airline passengers to always fill the complaints form, because the authority has staff actually in all airports in the country.
“There are four airlines that have been sanctioned recently over unfair deals with their passengers. A lot of the airlines we have written to or sanctioned and some of them have had to pay compensation.
“I remember last year that we had issue with the British Airways for overbooking and we got compensation for the passengers.
“There was a passenger who was overcharged by the Ethiopian Airlines for a flight that was to have an oxygen backup and we got some compensation for the person.
“An Aero Contractor aircraft was sanctioned by us recently and they did pay compensation to the passengers.
“The passengers’ bill of Rights is to protect all stakeholders,” Akinkuotu said.
The NCAA DG also said that four airlines had applied for Airline Operation Certificate (AOC), to operate in the country in 2014.
He explained that the certificate requires operators to have personnel, assets and systems in place, to ensure the safety of their employees and the general public.
“As we speak, l believe there are four airlines now processing their Airline Operation Certification.
“The processing of AOC certification is in five steps, starting with a letter from the airline showing its intention and it ends with the demonstration flight and the signing off,” he said.
Akinkuotu said that the agency’s focus was to get a fair deal for airline passengers, in other to be able to retain them for continuous patronage.
