The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has called on all the airline operators to be realistic in their flight planning and schedules as it would no longer tolerate complaints of flight delays and cancellations.
The agency handed down the warning recently after a stakeholders’ meeting 13 International airlines, eight domestic airlines, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd (BASL).
During the talks, officials of the NCAA requested the airline operators to table their challenges that could be the likely causes of flight delays and cancellations.
In response, the airlines itemised various challenges amongst including fuel supply, need for improvement in infrastructure at the airports, unruly passengers and traffic on airport road, among others.
Responding, NCAA and FAAN assured the operators that the operators that the challenges will be looked into and tackled accordingly.
The parties therefore resolved that: airlines should always disseminate on time information to passengers on flight status as well as provide the right to care to passengers in times of delays/cancellations in line with the Nig. CARs 2015 Part 19; NCAA/FAAN should liaise with the federal ministry of transportation to replace fuel hydrants and connect supply points to the airports; FAAN/airport operators/owners should ensure facilities like lightings, carousels, cooling systems, among others are functional at the airports; the federal ministry of transportation should liaise with the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) on fixing the underground pipeline layout from Apapa to Lagos Airport to minimize surface transportation of fuel; FAAN should beef up security at the airports to prevent unlawful interference; airlines’ representatives should be available to testify whenever cases of unruly passengers are referred to the Nigeria Police Force; the representative of FAAN management should ensure action is expedited on the upgrade of lighting on Runway 18L/36R at the MurtalaMuhammed International Airport, Lagos.
