The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said it will not hesitate to sanction any airline involved in display of cunning departure time for flights.
The Authority said airlines use the deceitful time to attract passengers who desire to travel and meet up with their appointment.
The actions by some airlines have led to delays, merging of flights, disruption of flights and sometimes cancellations of flights.
Reacting to the issue, the Director, of Consumer Protection and Public Affairs of NCAA, Michael Achimugu said the Authority will continue to engage the airlines to curb the practice.
He said the Acting Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo has directed officials of the authority to monitor the activities of airlines and sanction those going against aviation roles.
Achimugu said: “Recall that when the current NCAA acting director general assumed office, he made sure that there was ease of doing business. Right now, the time of getting AOC is quite shorter and easier compared to years ago. Therefore, the NCAA expects reciprocity from operators, chief of them being to provide world-class services to passengers. If the NCAA is making it easier for operators to work, it is expected that passengers will be satisfied. Lately, it has been observed that there are some infractions.
“Some airlines are been reported to be advertising deceitful departure times. By the NCAA regulations, especially part 19.20.1.3 state: “No airline shall display deceitful departure time at its counter, advert material or website.”
“We want to make it very clear that the DG CAA has instructed our consumer protection officers and other inspectors to begin to monitor the activities of airlines in this regard and defaulters are going to face serious enforcement actions.
“Let it be clear that Capt. Chris Najomo believes in discipline, safety and economic regulations. This is evident in the recent suspension of ten PNCF holders for failure to comply with recertification of their licenses. There will no longer be tolerance for non-compliance with regulations”.
He also warned that the NCAA will go after airlines that refuse to refund passengers after cancellations of flights.
He explained that the standard rule is that payments made in cash are refunded over the counter immediately while payments made through transfers or other online transactions are refunded within two weeks and noted that anything outside of these, will no longer be tolerated.
“We want to address the issue of time frame for refunds and compensations. The regulation states that if a passenger has made payment or secured tickets by cash, the passenger must be refunded by cash immediately at the terminal. We have stated this over time.
“Some airlines comply, while others don’t. The regulations also say that if a passenger has made payment for tickets online or via transfer, the airline has 14 working days to make a refund.
“There is a lot of non-compliance in this regard and the consumer protection department has made a lot of progress in educating the airlines and passengers and even ensuring refunds which has attracted the commendation of the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo.
“However, we have more work to do to ensure full compliance by airlines. Going forward, we are going to be more strict with the rules, we have supported airlines enough and we expect reciprocity from them”.
He also said the NCAA recently scored about 98 per cent in recent Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) ratings and 71.04 per cent in the ICAO security audit report.
“Captain Najomo and the NCAA wish to restate that ease of doing business is an area we will continue to improve on. It is evident in our highest score concerning PEBEC.
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“The NCAA scored 98.5 points. This is building on the commendable score of 71.04 we scored for the security audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). So, the numbers are improving and we will continue to do everything we can to make the industry safer and secure for passengers and all stakeholders”.
On the suspension of the licences of ten private jets, the NCAA noted that the airlines were suspended for failing to appear for recertification, adding that discussions are ongoing to address their challenges.
“They did not come for recertification despite the two-week window being provided for them earlier in April and which we have waited for three months. The time is enough for any operator to come for recertification, this did not happen with the ten PNCF holders and that is the reason for their suspension”.