The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has warned Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Saudi Air to stop mistreating Nigerian passengers and comply with the country’s aviation regulations.
The NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, stated that Qatar Airways has “carried on as though Nigerian passengers and the NCAA are not deserving of their respect, dignified treatment, and compliance with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023. This will be brought to a stop immediately”.
The warning comes after a recent incident involving a Nigerian passenger who was detained in Doha for allegedly touching a Qatar Airways cabin crew member’s butt during boarding from Lagos to the US via Doha. Despite the passenger’s wife being present throughout the boarding process, the crew member did not report the incident in Lagos but made the allegation in Doha, leading to the passenger’s arrest and detention for 18 hours.
The passenger was fined and forced to sign a document written in Arabic, which he did not understand. Despite paying the fine, Qatar Airways refused to fly him to his final destination, and he had to buy tickets on another airline to proceed at great financial and reputational cost.
Achimugu’s words: “A member of this airline’s cabin crew claimed that, while she was wheeling a passenger during boarding for a flight from Lagos to the US via Doha, a male passenger who was travelling with his wife had touched her butt.
“She did not report this incident in Lagos. On arrival in Doha, she made an allegation against this passenger, leading to his arrest and detention for about eighteen hours. During the period, his wife suffered mental, physical, and psychological trauma without any form of care. She wondered how her husband could have committed such a despicable infraction given that she was with him throughout the boarding process”.
The NCAA emphasised that airlines operating in Nigeria must respect and comply with the country’s consumer protection regulations. Achimugu noted that the authority protects both airlines and passengers but will apply stiff penalties to carriers that disregard Nigerian aviation laws.
“We will apply appropriate and stiff penalties against the airlines that, in perpetuity, fail to comply”, Achimugu emphasised. “This department protects the airlines as much as it protects passengers. The DGCA, Captain Chris Najomo, has never minced words about his position on consumer protection issues”.
The NCAA also criticised Qatar Airways for failing to comply with determinations made from a meeting with the authority and for not responding to subsequent complaints from other passengers, including a total silence upon receipt of a letter of investigation (LOI) sent to them by the NCAA.
“Upon invitation by the NCAA, the airline’s country manager, who has a penchant for evading meetings with the NCAA, only sent his subordinates to attend. However, the NCAA made a determination on that matter along with others. As has become typical of @qatarairways, they failed to comply with all determinations made from that meeting.
“They have also failed to treat subsequent complaints from other passengers escalated to them by the CAA, including a total silence upon receipt of a letter of investigation (LOI) sent to them by the NCAA.
“This behaviour stops now”, he stated.
“I understand that some countries do not have advanced aviation consumer protection regulations like Nigeria does. In certain cases, some countries don’t even have any. This creates a situation where airlines operating out of those countries (mostly national carriers) act with disdain towards consumer protection enforcement in Nigeria.
“This is not a situation that we would accept here. It is against the law for ANY Airline not to respond to the NCAA. It is against the law to provide false information to the NCAA”.
Achimugu added, “When BASAs are signed, they must be respected by both parties. Every airline is expected to, upon approval to operate in Nigeria, understand and comply with consumer protection regulations. To continue to treat our laws with contempt while respecting regulations across Europe and elsewhere is not ideal. This is not a situation that we would accept here”.
The NCAA has also cautioned Royal Air Maroc and Saudi Air over similar infractions, warning that failure to comply with the authority’s determinations will attract heavy sanctions.
“It is against the law for ANY Airlines not to respond to the NCAA. It is against the law to provide false information to the NCAA. It is against the law to fail to comply with the provisions of Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023,” Achimugu stated.