Senate Aviation Committee Chairman Tasks Industry On Service Delivery
The Chairman of Nigeria’s Senate Committee On Aviation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari has charged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other aviation agencies in Nigeria to ensure that quality services are delivered to air travelers at the airports.
Speaking at the South West Regional Transportation Summit held by NCAA yesterday in Lagos, Buhari charged the NCAA, the industry regulator, not to fail Nigerians, stating that the Nigerian public desires good on-time performance by the airlines, apart from signing of conventions that the government is doing.
“We want to see your performance in the domestic convention, good service delivery,” he said.
Buhari said the National Assembly was already considering a bill, proposing that local airlines in Nigeria own a minimum of four to five aircraft before commencing operations, even though the NCAA had in July 2023, mandated that airlines maintain a minimum fleet size of six aircraft, a policy that generated controversy among stakeholders.
Buhari frowned at the idea of an airline operating flights to so many routes with just two aircraft, stating that if an airline has just two aircraft, it should concentrate on one or two destinations with regular flights and quality services, pending when it is strong enough to expand its services, rather than operating to so many destinations and disappointing passengers.
He commended Overland Airways for its model of operations on Abuja-Ilorin-Lagos route, before expanding operations gradually into other destinations.
He was particularly unhappy with the record of flight delays and cancellations by local airlines resulting in passenger frustrations and waste of man hour.
He equally advised service consumers and air travelers to change their orientation of accepting travelers rights violations, stressing the need to file court cases against such violations and poor service quality.
