The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said it will sanction airlines that schedule departure times with the intent to mislead passengers.
The acting director-general of NCAA, Chris Najomo, proclaimed in a statement on Tuesday, 09 July signed by the director of public affairs/consumer protection, Michael Achimugu, on Tuesday,
The NCAA warned airline operators to guard against such infractions or tough actions will be taken against them while positing that “The NCAA now runs a zero-tolerance approach to regulatory infractions”.
Regarding the NCAA’s current direction, it was posited that ease of doing business is the crux of its DG’s action plan for the agency hence, he has made processes for licensing easy for operators.
Saying, “The time to secure AOC is now shorter and less cumbersome than it used to be in the past. The NCAA, therefore, expects reciprocity from airlines. Chief of which are world-class services to passengers” — that if the NCAA was enabling a business-friendly environment for operators, then the operators must satisfy the passengers with superior services.
“It has come to our notice that some airlines are being reported for advertising deceitful departure times. The NCAA regulation says no airline shall display deceitful passenger departure time at its counter, advert material or on its website. We want to make it very clear that the D-GCA has directed monitoring and offenders will face serious regulatory actions,” Najomo said.
According to him, the authority believes in safety, discipline, and economic regulation, evident in the recent suspension of ten permits for Non-Commercial Flights (PHCF) holders for failing to comply with the recertification advisory issued in April 2024.
Speaking more about the ease of doing business environment at the NCAA, Najomo said the ease of business is an area the agency would continue to improve.
He affirmed, “This is evident in our high score on the Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC) ranking. Recently our sister agency scored 96 per cent but the NCAA scored 98.5 per cent which is an extremely high score. This is building from the commendable score of 71.04 per cent the NCAA scored during this year’s ICAO Security Audit. The numbers are improving, and we will continue to do what we can to make the industry safer, and more secure for passengers and stakeholders.”.
On the hassle of airline refund processes, Najomo said all airline refunds must be completed without undue delays and should conclude in 14 working days regardless of the mode of purchase of the tickets.
On the suspension of ten operators’ PHCF licenses, he explained that they had been advised to commence the recertification process since April 2024, but they refused to comply, leaving the agency with no option but to sanction them.
Najomo also touched on a recent publication, among other allegations, describing them as baseless and founded upon ignorance or mischief. He explained that the NCAA’s actions were guided by the Civil Aviation Act 2022 while claiming that the law surrounding the suspension of 10 PHCFs as one of the allegations levelled against the agency was no longer in trend.
