The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said that unruly behaviour by air travellers would now attract criminal charges and warned all irate and belligerent passengers carrying out attacks on airline officials to desist forthwith or face criminal charges.
Since the last two years there has been upswing of attacks on airline personnel by passengers whose flights might have been cancelled or delayed to the extent that in some recent incidents, passengers had aborted flights by blocking check in counters or refusing to leave the aircraft.
NCAA in a statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said the warning has become necessary due to preponderance of reports from some of the nation’s airports detailing brutal attacks on officials of airlines.
“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,” NCAA said.
The agency noted that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs 2015 Part 19),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.
“These rights shall apply without prejudice to a passenger’s right under any applicable law or contract. However, passengers are not expected to take laws into their hands if and when there are operational hiccups which are capable of truncating air services,” the agency said.
NCAA also noted that all over the world, over booking, denied boarding, delay and cancellations similarly occur in extraneous circumstances.
“As contained in Part 19.7.2 airlines have the obligation to inform passengers on cancellation, an explanation shall be given concerning possible alternative transport.
“Also in Part 19.7.3 an operating airline shall not be obliged to pay compensation for cancellation if it can prove that the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken,” NCAA clarified.
The Authority added that Part 19.7.4 of the regulation talked about the burden of proof concerning any question as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating airline.
“It therefore means that passengers should be guided that cancellations and any aforementioned scenarios can occur beyond the control of the airline in certain situations.
On the other hand, when passengers are aggrieved, Part 19.20 states 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,” NCAA said.
The regulatory authority said it is on record that the Consumer Protection Directorate (CPD) has handled and resolved several cases from aggrieved passengers to their satisfaction, so the authority expects aggrieved passengers to to take 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 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,” NCAA added.
THISDAY
