The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA says going forward, it will be naming and shaming any airline that cancels flights and leave their passengers stranded in the airport without providing any form of accomodation for them.
In a post shared on X, the spokesperson of the agency, Michael Achimugu, said the law stipulates that passengers stranded between the hours of 10pm to 12 midnight must be provided with hotel accommodation by the airlines. He warned that going forward, any airline that fails to comply, would be named and shamed.
‘’If an airline has kept passengers at the terminal up to 00hrs before cancelling a flight, they OWE their passengers hotel accommodation. The regulations stipulate that passengers stranded between the hours of 2200 and 0400 be given accommodation.
The situation where airline staff intentionally disappear, leaving NCAA Consumer Protection Officers to handle justifiably irate and frustrated passengers will no longer be tolerated.
While one understands the challenges that operators face in our peculiar operating environment, whoever willfully ventures into a business and wants to remain in it must do it well.
We must not always choose the easy way out. Don’t you want to be called “world class”? Don’t you want to compete at the highest level? If not for the sake of the passengers who trust you to safely fly them, what about for your own pride?
You cannot expose NCAA officials to avoidable risk when all they do is support your business and protect your rights.
For infractions that are sanctionable, the Authority will apply the fullest measures possible. We will not abandon the letters of our regulations.
The federal government has instructed that airlines be named and shamed by the NCAA. While we have done our best to advise per solutions to flight disruptions and why not nearly all cases are the fault of the airlines, the NCAA expects that operators must comply with the regulations in the event of a disruption.
In compliance with the directives from the federal government and the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the naming and shaming will commence.
