Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said the sanctions recently initiated against five airlines were for consumer protection-related infractions, and not for safety concerns.
The clarification came after some media reports suggested that the airlines were sanctioned for more than just flight disruption issues.
In a statement by NCAA’s director of consumer protection and public affairs, Michael Achimugu, he said, “Even the DGCA publicly announced at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos, the names of the airlines, and the reasons for the enforcement actions. My department is strictly for consumer protection issues, not technical matters. So why would anyone think that I can sanction an airline for safety reasons?
“It is important to note that we do not sensationalise serious issues. The department protects both operators and passengers and will continue to be an unbiased umpire.”
Two weeks ago, the authority’s director of consumer protection and public affairs, Michael Achimugu, issued a warning that any airline that delays the payment of refunds to passengers within the stipulated time in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023 would be sanctioned.
A week later, the agency announced that it had initiated enforcement action against Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airways, Air Peace, Arik Air and Aero Contractors.
Furthermore, the acting director-general, NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo, called an emergency stakeholders meeting to find lasting solutions to flight delays and cancellations, where he advised operators to trim their operations according to the number of aircraft they have and to treat consumer complaints with the desired urgency.
Reacting to the announcement, Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace, said he noticed that some of his finance staff actually delayed some of those payments and he was not happy about it as his vision did not align with any practice that inconveniences passengers.
He accepted NCAA’s enforcement action and said the airline would improve its response time to such complaints.