By Ken Chiwendu
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to publicly list airlines that fail to comply with aviation regulations, particularly on flight cancellations and prolonged delays.
NCAA’s spokesman, Michael Achimugu, made this known in a post on X on Monday.
He reiterated that airlines are obligated to provide hotel accommodation for passengers stranded between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. due to disruptions.
Achimugu warned that NCAA would no longer tolerate airline staff who abandon their duty posts during operational disruptions, leaving NCAA Consumer Protection Officers to manage frustrated passengers alone.
“The situation where airline staff intentionally disappear, leaving NCAA Consumer Protection Officers to handle justifiably irate and frustrated passengers will no longer be tolerated,”
According to him, those who ” wilfully venture into business must do it well adding that operational challenges are not enough to justify non compliance with set guidelines.
“Whoever willfully ventures into a business and wants to remain in it must do it well. 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?”
Achimugu also criticised the exposure of NCAA officials to unnecessary risks, noting that its staff are deployed to assist both passengers and operators, not to replace absent airline personnel.
“You cannot expose NCAA officials to avoidable risk when all they do is support your business and protect your rights,” Achimugu stated.
The Aviation authority therefore vowed to strictly enforce its rules and impose sanctions where necessary, reiterating that it would not hesitate to apply “the fullest measures possible” for sanctionable infractions.
