Airline operators in the country must refund the full cost
of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay, the Federal Government
has said.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made this known on
Thursday at the weekly State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja.
He read some of the rights of aviation passengers at the
briefing and charged them to demand their rights whenever they are being
trampled upon by airlines.
“On domestic flights, 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’.
“Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse
passengers the full volume of their tickets.
“Delay between 10pm and 4am, carrier shall provide hotel
accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email and transport
to-and-fro airport,” Sirika said, adding that the same rules apply for
international flights.
The minister, who said his ministry has started sanctioning
some airlines who default on consumer rights, however, urged passengers not to
be unruly at airports.
Of late, flight cancellations and delays have characterised
inter-city air transportation in Nigeria, with many passengers scolding the
about 10 commercial airlines operating scheduled flights for keeping them waiting
at airports for hours after their scheduled departure time.
The operators of airlines in
Nigeria justified the delay and cancellations of domestic flights in the
country.
The operators hinged the reason on non-availability and
rising cost of aviation fuel, also known as JetA1 and inadequate parking spaces
at airports.
The operators, led by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen
Onyema, on Tuesday, stated this when they appeared before the Senate Committee
on Aviation chaired by Senator Smart Adeyemi.
He also demanded the prosecution of unruly passengers at the
Airports.
Other reasons cited by Onyema were non-availability of forex
for spare parts and maintenance, sudden change of weather, delay due to VIP
movement, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, delay clearance of
spare parts from Customs and inadequate screening and exit points at departure.
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