Tackling the menace of flight delays and cancellations

The Federal Government, through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has announced plans to begin to compel airlines to pay compensation for delayed or cancelled flights to passengers in the country.

The minister, dropping the hint at a meeting he had with airline operators early in the week in Abuja, added that the Federal Government will soon start implementing the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Act which will give legitimacy to the order compelling the airlines to pay.

He, however, urged the airlines to open a seamless communication system between them and passengers as a way of carrying them along when unforeseen circumstances occur that may warrant either flight delays or cancellations.

This is how things are done in other climes around the world where the principles of passengers rights and even airlines rights are placed side by side critical issues that join together to ensure smooth flight operations.

Though the issue of airlines needing to compensate passengers has been on the front burner for long, despite the existence of the consumer protection directorate under the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the obvious fact is that there are so many unresolved knotty issues dragging its implementation.

In the course of making the policy work, the NCAA as the regulator has laid emphasis on the practicality of the issue through the ability of the agency to prevail on the National Assembly to pass the bills guiding airlines/passengers rights and limitations as contained in their rights.

As easy as it is for this  policy to sail through in other countries, it, however, becomes almost difficult to fit into the system in Nigeria despite forming an integral part of the rudiments of standardised operational air transport experience.

Here in Nigeria, airlines are fond of delaying flights for hours or cancel it few minutes to the boarding time without  taking the rights of the passengers into consideration.

The trauma this often put on the passenger is compounded when the airline, rather than compensate such a passenger whose itineraries would have been disrupted, begin to play smart game just to escape responsibility.

Agreed that some of the circumstances that lead to cancellation or delay may be beyond the control of the airlines, but the ability to manage the situation when it occurs is almost zero.

In some cases, passengers have been made to go out of their way to find out the cause of delays or cancellation, having paid for tickets, without any explanations coming from the airlines.

It is this type of treatments that lead to confrontations between the airlines and passengers who, having been pushed to the extreme level take the law into their own hands.

Taking laws into their own hands when the airlines fail in their responsibility is not allowed, this is where the interventions of the NCAA through its consumer protection unit is needed.

Agreed that the NCAA has been trying to resolve this common but critical aspect of air transport, there is, however, more to be done in ensuring the airlines keep to the rules of the engagement in providing timely services to the passengers.

It is on records that there are some of the domestic airlines like Ibom Air that have been able to carve a niche for themselves in the areas of on-time departure and arrival. In other words, their 6.00am flight is 6.00am  and if there is going to be a minute delay, they are ever ready to carry their passengers along.

Therefore, the latest announcement by the minister may look good, but this can only be achieved if the NCAA focuses  more on this menace.

Making the airlines more answerable to their actions would only give credence to capability of the NCAA in being able to dispense its roles for the stability of domestic airlines operations.

In this era of economic hardships, the few passengers still patronising air travels should enjoy the value for what they pay for and this can only be achieved through seamless travels with utmost trust and punctuality on the part of the airlines.