NCAA says it has beef up safety and security in the Nigerian aviation sector

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Captain Muhtar Usamn, Director General, NCAA

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has disclosed that it has prioritised and invested heavily in safety and security in the Nigerian aviation sector while revealed that thirty six thousand, three hundred and fifty (36,350) domestic air flights and five thousand, three hundred and ninety five (5,395) international air flights were delayed in Nigeria in 2018

According to the latest Executive Summary (ES) on both International and Domestic Flight Operations released by the Authority, two leading domestic airlines – Air Peace and Arik Air – topped the list of the domestic air delay list.

In 2018, Air Peace operated eight hundred and thirty three (833) flights and had four hundred and twenty three (423) delays. Arik Air also operated seven hundred and twenty two (722) scheduled flights but experienced four hundred and thirty one (431) delays.

On the international routes, Egypt Air led the list as it had 657 delays out of 921 operated flights in the country. Cote D’voire came second with 286 flights delayed out of 516 flights operated.
In the year, a total of 59,818 flights were operated on the domestic routes by nine (9) airlines and 34 airlines operated a total of 15,645 international flights. Within the period 190 cancellations and 544 cancellations were reported.

On inbound flights, 1,994,099 passengers were flown into the country by airlines on international routes and on domestic routes, 5, 033,669 passengers were transported. On outbound, 2,084,980 passengers left the country while 5,058,974 travelled locally.

The ES noted that 44,885 baggage were reported missing on the international routes while 173 baggage got missing on domestic routes. NCAA however stated that a total 41,334 baggage were later found on the international routes as 164 baggages on the local routes were found.

In the area of over booking/denied boarding, 11 such cases were reported on international routes and 58 on domestic routes as 63 and 29 cases of pilfering, discourtesy, etc happened on international and domestic routes respectively in the year under review.

The report maintained that 74 complaints were recorded on international routes while 87 complaints were lodged on domestic routes. The report added that out of the 74 international complaints, NCAA resolved 36 of them and also resolved 63 out of the 87 domestic complaints.

Speaking with PortNews on the development, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, noted that NCAA had set up Consumer Directorate at both Lagos and Abuja airports to address complaints of air travellers and monitor air service providers towards mitigating complaints such as flight delay, cancellation, loss of baggage and others.

Noting that flight could be delayed or cancelled because of bad weather or engine fault, Adurogboye said the management of NCAA frowned at flight delay or cancellation without any genuine reasons except in a bad weather condition which, according to him, is a natural occurrence that could not be controlled.

He stressed that NCAA would not hesitate to apply sanction to erring airlines fond of delaying or cancelling flights except in a bad weather condition.

He said: ”We expect air travellers that have complaints about airline services to approach our consumer directorate in the airports. When they are not satisfied by the directorate, they can come to NCAA for redress. We compute all these things as they happen with a view to making airlines improve their services for the satisfaction of air service consumers. Sanction will be applied where it is necessary; however it is not punitive.”

Speaking on loss of baggage, Adurogboye averred that this occurs a lot because Nigerians travel heavy with a lot of baggage. To address reoccurrence, he said Nigerians should travel light and airlines too should educate and enlighten their passengers on heavy luggage.

On the NCAA plans for the growth of the industry, Adurogboye maintained that the key issue is security and safety which, he said, the management of NCAA has taken seriously by investing in training of personnel and ensured that right things are done to earn the confidence of passengers and that of investors.

”The key issue is safety and security. We ensure that right things are done for all operators. Safety boosts the confidence of passengers and investors; we are investing on it and continue training and re-training of our safety and security personnel and other staff too.

”We advise government on policy formulation and implementation to avoid summersault because the aviation industry is a sensitive one. Besides this, we provide a level playing field for all airlines and other investors in the industry by ensuring that the air safety regulations are easily complied with by all stakeholders,” Adurogboye stated.


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