The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, defaulting airlines must pay compensations for flight cancelations and delays.
He said this in Abuja yesterday during a meeting with the heads of agencies under the ministry.
“We are not deaf to the cries of Nigerians about delays and canceled flights. The law is there and we are looking at how to enforce those laws for compensation of Nigerians who bear the brunt of cancellation of flights and disrupting the activities.
“The process of grounding the airline or taking the airlines to court will create more problems. So if the reason for the delay and cancellation of flight is their fault they must pay compensation. And what I am suggesting is that if they don’t get cash back they must get some rebate when they buy next ticket.
“I have set up a committee to look into it such that they can generate a code that they can use when they want to purchase the next ticket.
“We are concerned about the passenger satisfaction and the safety of the air travelers,” he said. The minister directed the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to prepare a weekly catalogue of canceled flights.
He also directed the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau to conclude all incidents of air accidents and mishaps in the next 10 days.
He said: “For the recent incidents that happened recently, some minor, and others classified as serious incidents although there were no fatalities. The NSIB is investigating these incidents and I have directed them that within 10 days from today they must submit their report of the incidents and what actually transpired.
No more foreign pilots
Also us Keyamo has revealed the truth about the flight diversion to Asaba by United Nigeria Airlines on Sunday, November 26, 2023, According to the minister, United Nigeria Airlines lied when it blamed “weather” as the reason its Abuja-bound passengers found themselves in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
The minister said: Because of the incident that happened recently, where a flight to Abuja ended up in Asaba, NSIB must have their reports within 10 days on what really transpired. There was no weather problem yesterday. NiMet’s DG is here. It was a question about a wet lease plane. Pilots and the cabin crew were foreigners. They were not familiar with the Nigerian terrain. So, it was purely an issue of in-house administrative issues.”
He ordered an investigation by the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau NSIB on Flight NUA0504 within ten days. Also, he directed that all wet lease planes operating in Nigeria must have a Nigerian pilot and Nigerians as their cabin crew.
This followed claims that the wet lease by United Nigeria Airlines was solely occupied by foreigners unfamiliar with the country’s geography
The pilot took off from Lagos and flew straight to Asaba, not Abuja, according to a report from the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) tower. He also directed the NCAA to summon all the pilots and crew operating wet leases in Nigeria within 72 hours for further briefing.