NCAA sets final deadline for airlines to pay fines

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has given defaulting airlines a one-week deadline to settle reviewed sanction fines, following delays in payments and appeals from several operators.

This comes as the authority revealed it has revised some of the initial sanction amounts in light of new information and resolutions reached by the airlines.

The NCAA told Sunday PUNCH that it will begin following up with airlines next week, particularly those who have received revised sanction figures but have not responded.

“We will be asking the other airlines that have received the reviewed figures, and some did not even ask for a review, actually. We will be finding out from them; we are giving it to you next week before we ask questions,” read the statement.

The Director of Consumer Protection and Public Affairs at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, addressed the delays, saying it may not be fair to call the process “stalling”.

“As to why they are stalling, I don’t know if it’s called stalling. You know when you charge people money, people need to raise money, right? We are giving them until next week before we start asking them what’s going on,” Achimugu said.

According to the NCAA, several airlines have yet to receive their final reviewed penalty figures, partly because the authority is taking a more collaborative approach to compliance rather than enforcement.

“Some of them have not received their reviewed figures yet from us. Most of them complained that some of those cases had been resolved. What we are doing, because like we said, the aim of this is not just to punish; it’s to make them improve the quality of their services, right? And because the margins in the airline business are not so much, we don’t look to just drain them financially and run them out of business. So, we have been able to review some of those cases,” Achimugu explained.

He added that some previously sanctioned cases were dropped after it was discovered that the airlines had resolved them but failed to update the authority.

“The ones that they had actually resolved, but we were not aware because they did not update us, we are removing those sums from the sanction fee,” he said.

The review process has led to significant reductions in the amounts owed by some airlines.

“That is why you are able to see figures like, for instance, we were supposed to pay N11m, but we were able to cut it down to N4m. Then we further cut to N2.5m, which is what they have paid,” he noted.

One of the sanctioned carriers, Arik Air, has reportedly engaged with the NCAA and is preparing to settle its dues.

“Arik has been here; we have given them a revised figure; we have written to them; they are looking to pay us because they have asked for our account details already,” Achimugu confirmed.

Some time ago, The PUNCH reported that Achimugu cautioned airlines against breaching the timelines set in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023 for processing passenger refunds, stressing that any infractions would attract sanctions.

A week after the warning, the NCAA initiated enforcement actions against Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Peace, Arik Air, and Aero Contractors.

The move came in response to a spike in passenger complaints, which prompted the agency to act.