The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Sunday warned all industry stakeholders against peddling false or misleading information about competitors in the sector.
The NCAA issued the warning in a statement signed by its General Manager, Public Relations, Sam Adurogboye and made available to the media.
The statement said the NCAA was concerned about recent cases of false information prevalent in the industry.
“It is unfathomable that some questionable sources have been posting and circulating some cruelly fictitious stories about some airlines – insinuating a crash or claiming a particular carrier does not possess aircraft spares to sustain a safe operation using the online platform.
“The authority only recently carried out a safety audit on Arik Air and there were no issue of safety concern found; such reports should therefore be discountenanced.
“All those involved in this nefarious activity should promptly desist from this course of action as the consequences is seriously detrimental to the industry, particularly the confidence of the passengers,’’ it said.
According to the statement, the NCAA is well aware of the high volume of passenger movement within the country and from the diaspora during the yuletide season.
It said NCAA’s Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) had embarked on increased surveillance of airline operations in addition to its daily ramp inspection in order not to leave room for anyone to cut corners.
“On the issue of insurance, contrary to some claims, it is inconceivable for any carrier/flight crew to carry out any flight operation (private or commercial) without valid or all requisite safety certificates.
“According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs), 18.11.2 no person shall operate any aircraft in public air transport category without adequate and valid insurance.
“On this strength, the authority will continue to statutorily provide robust regulation for safe and secure airline operations,’’ the statement said.
It, therefore, appealed to passengers to show understanding and not take laws into their hands “when it becomes inevitable for flights to be delayed or cancelled’’.
According to the statement, this can be on account of unfavourable weather conditions or any other operational issue such as unavailability of fuel.
The statement further said that NCAA’s Consumer Protection Directorate had been strengthened to enforce the Passengers Bill of Rights as it related to passengers and the airlines.
(culled from www.businessdayonline.com)
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