The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has announced plans to launch its consumer protection portal in August, an initiative to improve accountability and openness in the aviation industry.
This announcement comes after the NCAA worked to resolve numerous complaints from customers in the aviation industry, according to The Punch.
The regulator said that the platform would enable travelers to record grievances, track airlines’ on-time performances, and obtain self-reported information regarding case settlements, hence establishing open and transparent access to airline performance data.
Commenting, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, said “The Consumer Protection Portal of the NCAA will soon be going live, where people can log in their complaints. And be able to see the on-time performance of all of the airlines with regards to the numbers of cases reported to them, how many of those cases have been resolved, and how many are pending.”
He clarified that the portal will feature a self-reporting system that would allow the general public to obtain airline performance statistics.
“It is a system that self-reports. So each airline will be reporting itself to the general public by the board that measures its performance. So if a particular airline is not doing very well in that regard, it will be open and transparent for everybody to see,” he noted.
According to Achimugu, the NCAA wants to implement this automated method by the end of August.
“It is ready; it is just some other things that we want to launch at the same time with the portal,” the NCAA spokesperson added.
Recall that the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, said that by January 2024, aviation regulators will start compelling airlines to reimburse customers for canceled or delayed flights.
Keyamo also assured travellers that a list of airlines that delayed or cancelled flights would be published in the media weekly as part of the compensation scheme.
The NCAA said that as a result, it had a strong track record of enforcing airline refunds and had successfully resolved 65–70% of such issues.
He said, “We have recorded a 65 to 70 per cent success rate with enforcing refunds.”
According to Achimugu, this progress comes amid ongoing challenges in the aviation industry, where delays and cancellations have often sparked conflicts between airlines and passengers.
Highlighting the complexity of the issue, the Achimugu noted, “Remember that the honourable minister also did inform us that some of the delays are not the fault of the airlines.
‘Even when it is the fault of the passengers, they still blame the airlines. He further illustrated this point with a recent incident.
“Sometimes, some of the issues are down to ground operations. Recently, I had someone complain, asking for a refund as compensation. When I reminded him of the regulations saying that he was supposed to be at the airport at least two hours before the flight, he became angry. He got to the airport 30 minutes before the time of departure, by which time the check-in counters had already closed.”
