Business
NCCA Announces New Air Regulations
The Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCCA), Dr Harold Demuren, said in Abuja last Wednesday that the agency had designed new aviation regulations that would protect the rights of air passengers in the country.
Demuren, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen, said the new regulation would allow the agency to penalise any airline both local and international that cancelled or delayed flights unnecessarily.
He said that electronic boards would be installed at all the airports across the country to enable passengers have access to information on the movements of flights.
The NCAA boss said that the electronic board would also enable passengers to recover their lost luggage and direct them to where complaints and other offences by the airlines could be lodged.
Demuren said that the agency would collaborate with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to ensure that all airports make use of the portals to enable passengers to have access to their right of services in all the airports across the country.
“The major thrust of this is to protect our consumers; there have been a lot of cases of delayed flights, cancellation, loss of baggage, over bookings, refused boarding, those are the things we need to do, why we must recognise passengers are our bigger assets,
“We must protect our passengers, we must make them happy, without them, we have no business in aviation, what the consumer right is talking about apart from safety and security is passenger’s statement of right and airline obligation.
“Right now we are working with FAAN, we are going to adorn all the airports with all those portals and you are going to see if your flight is going to be delayed, it will be shown, when it’s coming, when it’s moving, if you have lost a bag, there is another portal that deals with baggage lost so that you can pursue your baggages.’’
Demuren said that the new rule entitled, ‘’Passengers Protection Right Regulation’’, would become operational in the next 25 days in order to give all aviation stakeholders a chance to review it.
According to him, the regulation will only be applied to passengers arriving or departing from an airport located within Nigerian.
He, however, advised air passengers not to direct their complaints to the air hostess and cabin crew again but to direct such complaints to any NCAA officials at the airports.