The Committees of Aviation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are not happy with domestic airlines for incessant flight delays and cancellations. They have promised to bring up legislations that will penalise airline that indulges in this retrogressive habit.
The law makers also promised that they will soon come up with legislations that will empower the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to grant permits to any willing foreign airline to carry out domestic operations since domestic airlines have refused step up to meet the needs of local air travellers.
The law makers made their views known during a recent oversight visit to the NCAA headquarters in Lagos. Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, said domestic operators don’t care about the effects of protracted flight delays and cancellations on passengers, hence, the joint committee have decided to put in place measures that would empower the NCAA to grant an operating license to any of the foreign airlines that would be willing and able to deliver on prompt and safe air lifting of Nigerians to all their domestic destinations. He noted that local airlines are taking their exclusive right to the nation’s airspace for granted.
He also said that airlines’ performances records with the NCAA would be released to the public and a caveat on which one is healthy or not would accompany such public information. He said these measures are necessary so that Nigerian travellers would be treated with dignity.
Responding, the Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said the complaints by the legislators against domestic operators are well-founded and pledged that henceforth, the agency will be firmer against infractions by the airlines especially those that concern consumer abuse.
“We will take the issue of flight delays we take very seriously. I can assure that we will be looking at the schedule of the airlines, looking at the number of aircraft in their fleet, we will look at their maintenance programme; the number of the flight crew so we can determine the optimum number each airline can do as that is a contributory factor for the delays,” Nuhu said.
In a related development, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN) Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, revealed that the ongoing terminal construction at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, is 98% done and would likely be operational before the end of March 2022.