Airlines to now hold aviation agencies responsible for negligence

HENCEFORTH, members of the Airline  Operators of Nigeria (AON) will hold the various aviation agencies responsible for any damage to their  aircraft as a result of culpable negligence by any of the agencies. According to the Assistant Secretary General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, the position of the association was based on the nonchalant  attitude  of some of the agencies, the service providers, who “fail to live up to their responsibilities in ensuring adequate security and safety measures in all the nation’s airports.”

According to Tukur, “members of AON is not overlooking the fact that they are owing some of the agencies some debts and that some of the service providers have not been living up to their statutory responsibilities to airlines.”

Tukur noted that on several occasions, aircraft of member airlines had suffered losses due to bird strikes and intrusion into the sterile areas of airports, damaging aircraft on the ramp without any compensation, adding that the airlines would no longer take it lightly.

He gave an example of the incident last year when a man drove his car into the sterile area of an airport, damaging an aircraft  on the ramp, the several incidents of bird strikes which affected many of the airlines and the recent incident in which due to lack of perimeter fence, goats rammed into a chartered aircraft carrying some top politicians.

The AON scribe said because the government could not assist the airlines with its much touted financial bail out for the airlines over a year after the announcement, coupled with the failure of the Minister of Aviation to do anything positive on the bail out, the association had lost confidence in getting any reprieve under the present administration.

Tukur, however, assured that domestic airlines were ready to continue to service their historical debts as agreed earlier with the Minister of Aviation, adding that any accident or incident traceable to the fault of any service providers would no longer be treated with kids glove, as indicted service providers would be made to pay for such loss(es) incurred by any of the member airlines.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Tukur  enjoined managements of the various domestic carriers to be wary of some bad eggs who had been making traveling difficult for passengers by creating artificial scarcity of seats on board aircraft and extorting through illegal hike in air fares.

He also enjoined passengers to desist from patronising those staff that usually accost them and sell tickets to them off the counter, even as he urged that they should always ensure that all transactions were made from the officially designated ticket sale counters of airline of their choice.

Source : Tribune