By Sade Williams
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is to initiate a stiff enforcement action against Kenya Airways for violating regulations.
Director, Corporate Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr. Michael Achimugu said at the weekend that airline violated series of consumer rights in the course of its operations in Nigeria.
Apart from the most recent brouhaha which emanated from the deboarding of a passenger and which the airline apologized over, the NCAA said Kenya Airways had refused to obey rules guiding airline operations in so many instances.
“The airline admits that they should never have boarded the passenger from Lagos. The airline failed to discover the lack of a France transit visa and flew this passenger to Nairobi where she had a 17-hour layover, only to be told that she would have to endure a further 10-hour wait if she must be flown to the UK.
“Passenger then asks to be provided care for that 10-hour period as she is bleeding and needs to bathe. The actions of the airline staff following her request were down to poor passenger handling. Gloria Omisore was not an unruly passenger on the first leg of the flight, nor was she rude on the Lagos-Nairobi flight.
We put the facts of the matter to the airline and rejected the misleading official statement put out by them. The determination was for the airline to update its initial statement to reflect the facts of the case. There has been no compliance. Rather, the original statement that obfuscated facts, in all of its royal ‘misleading-ness’, has been allowed to grow wings and fly.” ,he said
Achimugu slso gave instances of ignoring refunds, compensation for lost baggage despite admitting to losing them and failure to honour commitments.
The NCAA also frowned at other matters including by feigning ignorance of existing regulations.
“The NCAA gave the airline an opportunity to fix what was wrong. The airline has failed to do so. Earlier yesterday, the airline asked for an extension of one hour, after which they still failed to comply with the determination of the CAA. On Thursday, in a separate issue, the airline failed to send in a compliance report about a scheduled flight that was delayed for 7 hours with no compensation for the passengers.
“When confronted over a phone call, the Kenya Airways team claimed ignorance of the NCAA Regulations. We are sending them a copy of it. But, how can you operate in a foreign country with no recourse to the relevant regulations? How is this different from those who claimed that Omisore should have known the travel documents she needed for her trip?
“To this end, we are organising a retreat for ALL airlines operating in Nigeria to learn and relearn Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023. One would expect that knowledge of all necessary regulations is essential.
“Added to the other long-ignored cases read out to the KQ team that attended the meeting, the CAA is dismayed by the actions of this airline. Cases of refunds not paid, lost baggage not compensated for despite admitting to losing them, and failure to honour commitments.
“The NCAA is, therefore, initiating stiff enforcement action against Kenya Airways. This action will go through due process. I have put our legal department on notice. “, Achimugu said.
