In its bid to enhance accountability and transparency in the country’s aviation sector, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to launch its consumer protection portal in August. This was disclosed by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu.
He said, “The Consumer Protection Portal of the NCAA will soon be going live, where people can log in their complaints. And be able to see the on-time performance of all of the airlines with regards to the numbers of cases reported to them, how many of those cases have been resolved, and how many are pending.
“It is a system that self-reports. So each airline will be reporting itself to the general public by the board that measures its performance. So if a particular airline is not doing very well in that regard, it will be open and transparent for everybody to see.”
Recall that the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, said regulators of the aviation sector would start to compel airlines to compensate passengers for cancelled or delayed flights by January 2024.
Achimugu further said, “Remember that the honourable minister also did inform us that some of the delays are not the fault of the airlines. Even when it is the fault of the passengers, they still blame the airlines. He further illustrated this point with a recent incident.
“Sometimes, some of the issues are down to ground operations. Recently, I had someone complain, asking for a refund as compensation. When I reminded him of the regulations saying that he was supposed to be at the airport at least two hours before the flight, he became angry. He got to the airport 30 minutes before the time of departure, by which time the check-in counters had already closed.
“So, when things like this happen, we also need to be fair to the airlines. We need to measure whether it is the fault of the airlines or the fault of the passengers.”