The Federal Government has stated that it will compel airlines to begin compensating passengers whose flights were delayed or cancelled by January, News About Nigeria reports.
The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, made this known while defending his ministry’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year before the National Assembly joint committee on Tuesday.
He expressed his deepest concerns on how Nigerian passengers are treated, stating that he has contacted the customer’s satisfaction commission and charged them in previous meetings held both in Lagos and Warri in respect to the commission ensuring that they treat Nigerians better.
Kayemo further disclosed that aviation regulators will begin to force airlines that delay or cancel flights to return customers’ funds.
He maintained that a list of offenders will be published in the media weekly as part of the new compensation scheme, adding that this will improve transparency in the aviation industry.
The minister noted that the list will include a list of airlines that did not fly as and when due, cancelled flights, delayed flights, how many hours they were delayed, if there were compensations, and actions that were taken as regulators against these airlines, stating that all these would commence in January.
Kayemo also maintained that for erring airlines that did not pay compensations to the passengers if they are not able to refund cash, those airlines will give the passengers a rebate of either 50 percent or 40 percent upon purchase of the next ticket.
Speaking further on restructuring Nigeria’s airports at the national assembly hearing, Keyamo said the best option to develop the airports in the country is through concessions to investors.
