The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have threatened to prosecute aggrieved passengers who destroy properties belonging to any airline.
This was announced in a statement by Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, the AON spokesperson on Friday. They also noted that any passenger who assaults any airline staff will also be arrested and prosecuted.
The OAN took the decision following the incident of July 21, where Dana Air passengers physically damaged the company’s properties over the cancellation of their flights.
What AON is saying
Mr Okonkwo noted that the aggrieved passengers who destroy airline properties will be blacklisted and also banned from being transported by members of AON.
He said AON would no longer condone the act of passengers who destroy properties of its affiliate members without adequate response.
He said going forward, AON would explore legal options to ensure that passengers caught destroying properties of its members are brought to book and made to pay for such.
He said the legal action might come by way of a civil suit against passengers who chose to be uncivilised in their behaviour.
He noted that destroying airline’s property and assaulting staff of airline companies constitute criminal breaches and are not part of the avenues recommended by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Competitions and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPA) to seek redress.
- “The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) condemns, in very strong terms, the attack on the property of Dana Air by passengers whose scheduled flights were affected by the grounding of the airline for operational audit.
- “Dana Air is currently undergoing an operational audit as ordered by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
- ”We understand that Dana Air, as a responsible member of this association, had activated its feedback mechanism to inform its passengers of the development and the cancellation of their flight.
- ”However, it is uncivilized for passengers to have taken the laws into their own hands by destroying Dana Air’s property when there are approved mechanisms for redress,” the statement reads.
- “Once again, AON reminds consumers of the services of her members that no law permits the destruction of company property, and, or, physical assault on Airline staff as a form of redress.
- ”We make bold to say that such actions will be pursued from both criminal and civil law perspectives and may also include blacklisting and imposing travel ban on such members of the public by the airlines.
He urged passengers who have issues with an operator to explore legal approaches in seeking redress.
He added, ”We encourage aggrieved passengers to explore NCAA’s approved avenues for redress, including options at Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) as the airline staff that were assaulted, and properties damaged, cannot make up for whatever is the unintended consequence(s) of flight cancellations or delays.”
In case you missed it
- The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had earlier warned that the ongoing scarcity of JetA1 fuel, popularly known as aviation fuel, would further increase flight reschedule and cancellation.
- This was disclosed by Obiora Okonkwo, Chairman, United Nigeria airline and the spokesperson of AON, in a statement issued on Monday.
- According to the statement, the scarcity of aviation is impacting negatively on the seamless conduct of air transport operations and would lead to flight rescheduling and cancellations.
He must be Sick upstairs