The Federal Government, through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, has imposed sanctions on five airlines for various regulatory breaches.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, revealed this information during a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
He confirmed that two international and three domestic airlines were involved in violations of Part 19 of the NCAA regulations.
The offenses included failure to pay refunds within the required time frame, ignoring NCAA directives, mishandled luggage, missing luggage, short-landed baggage, and flight delays and cancellations.
While acknowledging that airlines are not always responsible for flight disruptions, Achimugu explained that NCAA regulations outline specific actions airlines must take when such disruptions occur. Non-compliance with these regulations leads to sanctions of varying severity.
The NCAA had previously issued a warning to airlines, stating that sanctions would be applied if they failed to process refunds within the mandated fourteen days for online ticket purchases and provide immediate cash refunds for tickets purchased with cash.
Achimugu noted that frequent flight disruptions during the Yuletide period had led to an increase in passenger complaints related to delays and cancellations.
To address the issue, the NCAA plans to summon the Chief Executive Officers of all airlines for a meeting to discuss flight disruptions and other regulatory breaches.
“Although airlines are not always responsible for flight disruptions, NCAA regulations stipulate actions they must take when these occur.
“Failure to comply attracts various levels of sanctions.
” The authority recently warned that it would initiate sanctions if airlines failed to pay refunds within the stipulated time frame of fourteen days for online ticket purchases and immediate cash refunds for tickets purchased by cash,” he said.
