The acting Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Chris Najomo Thursday hinted that the authority has achieved a 65 per cent case resolutions of issues relating to flight disruptions in less than a year in office.
Najomo said that since assuming office in December 2023, the first 100 cases that came to the Authority, 75% of them were resolved within 10 days.
He added that a lot of the cases were resolved on the spot by the Flight and Operations Adjudication unit who are majorly responsible for interfacing with the airlines in resolving the cases.
Najomo noted: “But, we have the consumer protection officers at 23 terminals across the country and they resolve these cases at the terminals that did not need to get to our unit.”
The NCAA boss, while briefing the press on airlines consumer complaints resolution and issues relating to flight disruptions in Abuja, further advised airline passengers and other regulatory agencies interested in consumer-related issues in aviation to study and understand the NCAA regulatory provisions governing consumer protect.
He said the agency reckons that with more informed passengers and stakeholders, issues around passengers’ rights will be better understood.
Represented by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection (NCAA), Mr. Michael Achimugu, he said, “passengers’ must study the 19 of the NCAA regulation to know their rights and responsibilities. If you know your rights, you can always access them because most of the time, the airlines won’t inform you of your benefits”
Najomo said the regulation provides for timelines and compensations in resolving different passenger complaints.
He added: “We want to address the issue of time frame in resolving passenger complaints. We have noticed over time that passengers and other government agencies who forward complaints to the NCAA do not seem to understand the concept of time within the NCAA regulatory framework and aviation regulations globally.
“We noticed that once passengers report a case, they assume it should be resolved within a day or two days. we also have situations where government agencies write us to say we must resolve cases within three days.
“We have been carrying out a lot of awareness as regards passengers’ rights and obligations to correct these misconceptions.”
He said for delayed luggage, passengers are entitled to a First Needs payment of N10,000 for domestic flights and $170 for international flights while the baggage is being searched for.