Following the pronouncement of the Federal Government that
airline operators must refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers
after a two-hour delay, commercial airlines have listed the conditions for such
reimbursement.
The airline operators made this known in separate interviews
with PUNCH.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had, on Thursday at
the weekly State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja, read out some of the
rights of air passengers as enshrined in Part 19 of the Consumer Protection
Regulations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (2015) and charged them
to demand their rights whenever they were being trampled upon by airlines.
“On domestic flights, for delay beyond one hour, carrier
should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail.
They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am
delaying for one hour’.
“For delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall
reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets.
“For delay between 10pm and 4am, carrier shall provide hotel
accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email and transport
to-and-fro airport,” Sirika had said, adding that the same rules applied for
international flights.
The minister, who said his ministry had started sanctioning
some airlines who defaulted on consumer rights, however, urged passengers not
to be unruly at airports.
In recent times, air transportation has become the darling
of travellers in Nigeria, no thanks to the rising cases of robbery attacks,
kidnappings and killings on highways across the country. According to the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, there are over 20 airports spread across
Nigeria, with at least three airports in each of the six geopolitical zones of
the country, making almost every part of the country accessible by air.
But as the aviation sector enjoys patronage, flight
cancellations and delays have characterised inter-city air transportation in
the country.
According to recent statistics obtained from
the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, there are 19 international airlines and
nine local carriers currently operating within the country. The local airlines
include Azman Air, Overland Airways, Max Air, Ibom Air, Air Peace, Aero Contractors,
Dana Air, Arik Air and United Nigeria Airlines.
The NCAA data showed that 1,871 international flights have
been recorded within the country’s airspace from January to March 2021 but 562
of those flights were delayed while nine were cancelled.
The regulator’s data also showed that 14,662 local flights
were recorded in Nigeria between January and March 2021. However, 7,554 of
those flights were delayed while 149 were cancelled.
Operators of airlines in the country had justified the delay
and cancellations of domestic flights recently.
The operators, led by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen
Onyema, had, on Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Aviation chaired by
Senator Smart Adeyemi, hinged the reason on non-availability and rising cost of
aviation fuel, also known as JetA1 and inadequate parking spaces at airports.
Other reasons cited by the operators were non-availability
of forex for spare parts and maintenance, sudden change of weather, delay due
to VIP movement, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, delayed
clearance of spare parts from Customs and inadequate screening and exit points
at departure.
Efforts to get the Air Peace Chairman’s comment on the
recent statement of the minister proved abortive as he neither took our
correspondent’s calls nor responded to text messages sent to his line as of the
time of filing this report.
However, speaking on Sunday, Air Peace’s spokesman,
Stanley Olisa, said the airline does refund passengers whenever there is flight
cancellation due to weather or technical glitches.
Responding to a question by our correspondent, he said,
“Yes, we refund our customers based on the terms and conditions of our tickets.
Refund can be voluntary, where the customer is refunded 75 per cent of the fare
and this occurs when they no longer wish to fly on the service paid for. It is
involuntary when we cancel the flight and the passenger is refunded the full
fare. The refund process takes three to four weeks.”
The spokesman for Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, said what the
minister read at the presidential briefing was not new but that airlines would
rather delay or cancel flights and ensure the safety of their passengers than
fly when it is technically unsafe to do so.
He said, “What he said is not new, it has been in existence
in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations 2015. We refund when passengers
request for refund, we provide accommodation when flight is cancelled in the
night. We transport passengers from the airports to the hotel and bring them
back in the morning. We also compensate where necessary after providing all
these things.
“Flight delay is a peculiarity of the industry and these
issues come up once in a while. No airline can say it has not had one or two
hours delay due to bad weather, technical issues, documentation and other
factors.
“No airline will delay deliberately but when it has to do
with safety and best standard practices, we will rather do the right thing and
take the bashing. We need to ensure the safety of our passengers at all times.
“It is quite understandable when passengers are angry
because they have paid. It is understandable because they have commitments and appointments
but there are times when we just have to do the right thing and these may cause
delay in take-off.”
Ezenwa agreed with the minister that when there were issues
that necessitated flight cancellations and or delay beyond scheduled time,
timely communication and engagement with the passengers could make the
difference.
Also speaking with Sunday PUNCH, an official of Aero
Contractors who did not want to be named said the airline had been complying
with the regulations of the Federal Government.
“I can tell you that Aero is going to comply with the
standard procedure based on regulatory and government policies and based on the
new comment the minister made yesterday (Thursday). When there is AOG (aircraft
on ground) due to technical faults, we cancel the flight. When there is weather
issue, we cancel the flight. Passengers are either refunded or if they are
willing, they can reschedule to fly again without any penalty or additional
cost. That has been the normal procedure,” he said.
When asked of the conditions for refund, he said, “It
depends on the circumstances. If they pay cash, they will get cash; if it is
PoS, their funds will be transferred to them.”
The official, however, did not give the duration of refund
which he said “it is not cast in iron”.
When contacted, Arik Air’s Public Relations and
Communications Manager, Banji Ola, kept mum on the matter. “I don’t have any
comment to make,” he told our correspondent over the phone.
Also, one of the new entrants into the space, United Nigeria
Airlines, told our correspondent that the operator would make its position
known soon.
“The company will make its official position known. There
are different issues between regulatory authorities and ministerial
pronouncements,” spokesman for the airline, Achielieus Uchegbu said
Efforts to get the Chief Executive Officer of Azman Air,
Yunusa Sarina, proved abortive as of the time of filing this report as he did
not take calls put across to his line by our correspondent.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in its weather forecast outlook on Friday, said thunderstorms were expected over parts of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Borno States while other parts of the northern region would be under cloudy skies.
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