The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Wednesday said it sanctioned four airlines in the country last year for abusing the rights of passengers.
Disclosing this in Lagos, Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu listed the affected airlines as British Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Aero Contractors while refusing to mention the fourth, saying they were sanctioned for engaging in unfair deals with their passengers.
“I urge airline passengers to always fill the complaints form, because the authority has staff actually in all airports in the country”, he said.
“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 an issue with the British Airways for over-booking 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”.
He added that NCAA had also received applications from four airlines for Airline Operation Certificate (AOC) to operate in Nigeria in 2014, saying the certificate requires operators to have personnel, assets and systems in place before approval.
“I 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.
