NCAA to prosecute unruly air passengers
… Empowers CPD desk
Irate and unruly air passengers that carry out attacks on airline officials will henceforth face criminal charges as dictated by the law.
Apex aviation regulatory agency in the country, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) made this known on Sunday while warning belligerent passengers carrying out attacks on airline officials to desist from such acts.
This warning, NCAA said, became necessary due to preponderance of reports from some of the nation’s airports detailing brutal attacks on officials of airlines.
In an official statement issued on Sunday and signed by the General Manager, Public Affairs, Sam Adurogboye, the agency said these attacks are embarrassing and discourteous to such affected officials.
“The Authority undoubtedly recognises that the operating airlines must at all times uphold the conditions of carriage and contract on each passenger’s ticket.
“This means all passengers are conferred with inalienable rights when they are travelling by air. According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs 2015 Part 19),it prescribes minimum rights for air travellers on the occurrence of any of the following – no show and overbooking of flight, denied boarding, delay and cancellation of flights etc”, NCAA noted in the statement.
It further added that “these rights shall apply without prejudice to a passenger’s right under any applicable law or contract”.
Stating further, the agency warned that passengers are not expected to take laws into their hands if and when there are operational hiccups which are capable of truncating air services, stressing that “all over the world, overbooking, denied boarding, delay and cancellations similarly occur in extraneous circumstances”.
On the passengers, NCAA pointed out that a passenger may lodge a complaint with the Consumer Protection Directorate, or any other competent person designated by the Authority, about an alleged infringement.
According to NCAA, the Consumer Protection Directorate (CPD) has handled and resolved several cases from aggrieved passengers to their satisfaction.
It therefore stated that the authority expects aggrieved passengers to recourse to the platform provided by NCAA to file their complaints and seek redress or compensation as the case may be.
“Subsequently, any passenger found carrying out attacks on airline officials will face criminal prosecution. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is statutorily empowered to provide an enabling environment for a safe and secure air transportation. It will, however, not allow any airline official’s life to be ridiculed publicly or endangered”, the agency emphasised.
