Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Aviation   >   We will ground debtor airlines – FG

We will ground debtor airlines – FG

By on December 10, 2014

Airlines that are indebted to agencies under the Federal Ministry of Aviation will henceforth be grounded, the Federal Government has declared.

Government has thus inaugurated an online portal that exposes the inefficiencies of domestic carriers in the country and mandated the airlines to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed.

The Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, said this during the inauguration of the Aviation Passengers Service portal on Monday in Abuja.

He said, “We will ground any airlines that owe any aviation parastatal until they settle their debts. The period of owing the aviation industry is over. We are going to work out a payment plan for all the old debts.

“But going forward, we must collect all our revenues and the agencies must also keep tab on that. So, there is a directive from me and I will sanction any agency that continues to provide services to any airline that fails to pay its lawful debts.”

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency recently stated that it was owed over N5bn by domestic airlines.

Asked to state the total indebtedness by the airlines to agencies in the sector, Chidoka said, “That’s not my problem; my problem is that they should pay their debts.”

On the APS portal, he said the website was part of the government’s commitment to transform the sector into a customer-centric industry.

He explained that the portal would expose the efficiencies of airlines operating in the country, enable passengers to make informed decisions on which airline or flight to patronise while making travel arrangements and provide information on all airports in the country.

Chidoka said the website, on a daily basis, would reveal the performance survey of the domestic airlines, showing those keeping to time and those notorious for flight delays.

The performance survey on the portal on Monday, at the time of filing this report, showed that of the 120 flights recorded, 84 were delayed.

“We believe that this website will put pressure on the airlines as they will know that people are beginning to monitor how they are performing on a real-time basis,” Chidoka said.

He said after the government had tracked the information, “the next thing that we will do is how to see that there is improvement for it is not enough to say that flights are delayed. We are going to make sure that if after 15 minutes, they don’t take off, we will consider it as delayed.

The minister stated that after one hour delay, “the passenger is entitled to some compensation. We are going to force the airline to submit using IATA standards. After six hours you are supposed to give them (passengers) a lift and after 12 hours, you are supposed to provide them with accommodation for the night and we are not going to take this lightly.”

He also said, “The airlines are given time to respond to the queries. If there is any issue and we send a report to the airline, we will also respect the airline’s need to get its facts together and collect all the information and make a response.”

Chidoka said the portal would allow passengers to search for flights on any route of their choice within the country, submit complaints, suggestions and or recommendations to the ministry and any of its agencies, and share their thoughts and opinions on matters relating to the aviation sector.

 

[Punch]